Turkey’s thermal tourism sector is now being promoted abroad with European youth and Arab families as target customers. At the International Luxurious Thermal Product Development and Marketing Summit held in Afyon on January 16th, TUI Director Ihlau told hotels, “Prepare package deals to pamper the youth.”
Afyon hosted the first-ever International Luxury Thermal Product Developing and Marketing Summit recently. Attending the summit, Günter Ihlau, the Director of International Relations and Investment for TUI, said that Turkey needs to market its thermal facilities to Europe.
Pointing that the younger population around Europe are more intrigued by spas than they are in thermal springs, Ihlau stated, “You should develop luxurious spas where they can be pampered.” Ihlau also shared that in 2012 they brought 4.8 million German tourists to Turkey and pointed out that their mid-term goal is to bring that figure up to eight million tourists.
A PLATFORM ESTABLISHED
Also attending the summit was NG Hotel and Kütahya Porcelain Executive Board Chairman Nafi Güral who stated, “Health tourism needs to be developed to include the younger population and not just be geared towards those that are older. This would allow for an increase in both revenue as well as the number of visitors that travel to Turkey.” Speaking at the conference, Minister of Culture and Tourism Promotions Assistant General Manager İrahim Yazar announced that they have set up a Health Tourism Platform.
FLIGHTS FROM THREE COUNTRIES TO BEGIN AT ZAFER
Serhat Çeçen, Executive Board Member of IC Holding, investors in Zafer Airport which services Kütahya, Afyonkarahisar and Uşak, stated, “We have invested 50 million TL in this airport which will serve 2.5 million passengers a year.”
Source Sabah
