ANKARA: The Tourism Platform 2017, organized by Sabah newspaper yesterday at the Antalya Mimar Sinan Cultural Center, focused on “opportunities and financing strategies in Turkish tourism.” Attended by deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Hüseyin Yayman as the keynote speaker who underscored “Tourism 4.0,” the tourism platform received great interest from sector representatives, hoteliers, tour operators and tourism players.
Deputy Minister Yayman said during his keynote speech that “Period 4.0 in tourism” will be further improved hand-in-hand with the Turkish people. Just as Turkey has commenced a “period 4.0” in the industry, the same initiative will also be applicable to an important sector that drives the economy.
“The tourism sector is not the job of the Ministry, hoteliers or the tour operators. The country is developing with the income obtained from it, so this sector is ours. I would like to thank Sabah newspaper, which has realized this platform by protecting this sector,” Yayman said, stressing that the tourism industry has written a success story over the last 30 years, and that period 4.0 has now begun.
Sharing the key points of the new era of the sector, Yayman recalled that tourism mobility in Turkey, which can also be called 1.0, started with the incentives and support provided by Turgut Özal in 1985, while the period 2.0 was introduced by tour operators in the 1990s, during which the launch of charter flights and the realization of mass tourism brought great momentum to the sector.”Period 3.0 began with the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in 2002. There is no tourism without transportation. The AK Party undertook a renewal of the infrastructure of the tourism sector in particular. And, the number of tourists reached 40 million,” Yayman said, noting that now a new phase has begun. Suggesting that cooperation between the public and private sectors will be further improved, Yayman said tourism, which is concentrated mostly in the regions of Antalya, Muğla and Istanbul, will be expanded countrywide. “We will be more effective in global promotion and we will use digital channels in a more powerful way. According to a global survey, 74 percent of people make their travel plans online. We will also strengthen this channel,” he continued.
