Hoteliers push for Eid extension to boost tourism

August 31 is the eve of Eid al-Adha, which takes place over four days. August 30 is also a public holiday - the celebration of Turkey’s Victory Day.

Head of Edremit Tourism Hoteliers Association Yahya Yavuz says the holiday should be extended to ten days, saying Turkey's Aegean region attracts mainly tourists, and that hotels in the area reach 100 percent occupancy during official holidays.

According to officials in the Aegean region, revenues rocketed last year during the holidays for the two religious feasts, but this year there was a drop as the holiday for Eid Ramadan was shorter.

Tourist numbers up 43 percent in June

The number of foreign tourists visiting Turkey rose to nearly 3.5 million in June.

The sharp rise follows April’s turnaround, when the number of visitors arriving from overseas rose for the first time in two years.

This year’s numbers so far

• 763,727 Russians visited in June, making a total of 1.69 million visitors during the first half of the year, a 14 percent year-on-year increase.
• 1.4 million European tourists came to Turkey in June, a 0.6 percent increase over June 2016.
• More than 4.8 million Europeans visited Turkey in the first six months of this year, a 12.7 percent decrease.
• 12.3 million foreigners visited Turkey in the first half of the year, a 14 percent year-on-year increase.
• In the second quarter of 2017, the country’s tourism revenue shot up to $5.4 billion - an 8.7 year-on-year increase.

Thomas Cook says Turkey bookings unaffected by German tensions

Tour Operator Thomas Cook says the resurgence in bookings to Turkey has not been affected by increased tensions with Germany .

Thomas Cook CEO Peter Fankhauser has told reporters that Turkey remains attractive to tourists - despite a warning by the German government warning its citizens to take care when travelling there.

In recent years, security issues in the Middle East and North Africa has seen Thomas Cook’s bookings in those regions suffer. However, this year there’s been a bounce back in markets like Turkey and Egypt, while Spain takes a back seat.