Bahraini travellers to Turkey up 43pc in 2017

Turkey’s appeal to GCC travellers continues to grow year after year, with the country recording a 43.43 per cent rise in the number of travellers from Bahrain in 2017.

According to the latest data released by the Turkish Consulate General Cultural and Information Office in Dubai, Turkey received 59,442 visitors last year, which is a significant increase from the 41,505 travellers recorded in 2016.

“Most of these travellers come to Turkey as tourists, medical tourists or business guests looking to invest in the country’s many lucrative economic opportunities,” said Salih Ozer, attaché of Culture and Information, Turkey to the UAE.

Ozer also noted a rise in Kuwaiti visitors to the country, which climbed to 255,644 in 2017, up 42.07 per cent from 179,938 travellers visiting in 2016. Emirati travellers were also among the top traveller markets, with a total of 49,360 tourists visiting Turkey in 2017 - up 28.83 per cent from the 38,315 visitors in 2016.

Turkey’s investment in diversifying its tourism sector to cater for medical and business tourists, with substantial growth and investment in the country’s Mice sector, has paid off. In 2017, Turkey received a total of 32,410,034 visitors from around the world, as compared to 2016 where the country was visited by 25,352,213 travelers, a 27.84 per cent increase.

This rise in visitor travel has also lead to an increase in tourism based revenues, which grew to $26.28 million, an increase of 18.9 per cent as compared to 2016. - TradeArabia News Service