Turkey’s southern resort city of Antalya continues to be the most popular tourist destination in the Mediterranean, hosting the highest number of tourists in the region.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Antalya hosted 8.6 million visitors in 10 months with its 680,000-bed capacity. The province has attracted tourists from more than 60 countries, mostly from Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Kazakhstan, Romania, the Netherlands and the U.K. with relaxed travel restrictions.
Erkan Yağcı, chairperson of the Mediterranean Touristic Hoteliers’ Association (AKTOB), told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Turkey’s tourism industry has demonstrated to the world the possibility of safe tourism even under pandemic conditions, thanks to the cooperation between public and private sector.
The Safe Tourism Certification Program initiated last year in coordination with the Culture and Tourism Ministry, Health Ministry and related authorities helped attract numerous tourists to the city, and the country.
Accordingly, Turkey has taken a slew of measures at airports, transportation facilities, hotels and other tourist establishments. The program spells out a series of measures in various areas to regulate accommodation, transportation, the health status of travelers and employee facilities. Information about these measures has been shared with foreign diplomats, tourism agencies and members of the press, who were able to review the measures on-site.
Yağcı said they are planning to reach the 9 million tourists mark this year, adding that the region had a much better season than last year. He noted that Safe Tourism Certification Program played an important role in this success.
