Despite the civil unrest observed during the Arab Spring, Turkish tourism officials say that they expect the number of visitors planning to travel to Turkey to remain stable in the coming months, reports Reuters.
Ertugrul Gunay, Turkish Travel Minister, told the news outlet that the country was keen to promote regional tourism in the wake of the civil unrest that lasted almost 13 months.
"The Arab Spring reflected both positively and negatively on Turkish tourism," Gunay said. "Last year, some of the reservations from Egypt and Tunisia shifted to Turkey, as well as Italy or Greece. But the most important thing is, because of the lack of a resolution in Syria, Turkey lost more reservations than it gained last year."
In 2011, international travel to Turkey increased by 10 percent, to more than 31 million visitors. Gunay hopes to increase this figure by implementing additional cultural tourism initiatives.
According to Eurasia Review, Turkey is looking to partner with countries such as China to build strategic relations and increase travel to Turkey. Despite the relatively low numbers of Chinese tourists who visited Turkey last year, officials hope that such partnerships will increase visitor figures from emerging Asian markets.
