Turkey is one of the markets with the largest growth potential thanks to cultural, language and business tourism.
In line with its strategy to penetrate new markets, on 19 and 20 September Malaga City Council’s tourism department launched a special promotional campaign in Istanbul with the aim of showcasing the city’s tourism offerings.
As part of the agreement signed by the Mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, and the CEO of Turkish Airlines, Halid Koca, at the last edition of FITUR in Madrid, with the aim of promoting the city’s tourist offerings in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Southeastern Asia, and the Far East – all feeder markets in which Malaga has great interest – the campaign was launched in collaboration with Turkish Airlines and Spanish Tourist Office in Rome, responsible for the Turkish market.
The agreement with Turkish Airlines is the first of its kind to be signed by Malaga City Council with an airline operating flights between the Far East, Southeastern Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe and the city’s international airport. In fact, the airline began to operate weekly flights between Istanbul and Malaga a year ago, flights that in many cases depart from the aforementioned regions, allowing long-haul tourists to reach the capital of the Costa del Sol in a shorter time and more directly, without having to stop over first in Barcelona or Madrid to catch a connecting flight to Malaga. Due to the success of these weekly flights, the airline has now increased the number to five a week.
Turkish Airlines’ hub in Istanbul offers travellers from Malaga flight connections with 49 airports in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, in addition to the Turkish market, which is considered of prime importance due to the existence of an affluent middle class with whom Western destinations are popular, above all as regards cultural and language tourism. Furthermore, the country’s flourishing corporate sector has great potential as a feeder market for the MICE industry.
Besides this marketing campaign, Malaga City Council’s tourism department has planned a large number of additional marketing initiatives for the rest of the year, geared to the Turkish market, including several fam trips for travel agents specializing in cultural, language or business tourism, and for the specialized press, featuring a fam trip for journalists working for Turkish Airline’s magazine, which is distributed on 180 routes operated by the airline all over the world.
According to statistics provided by Turespaña, the main factors that influence Turkish tourists when choosing a destination are the possibilities it offers for leisure, culture and learning languages, although business travel demand has increased by 4% last year.
On average, Turkish tourists stay eight nights and spend €1,404. Turkey’s potential as a feeder market lies in its population pyramid, with a large number of young inhabitants, and its economic growth.
