The number of foreign tourists coming to Antalya exceeded 15 million

Antalya, which hosted the 77th International Astronautical Congress with more than 18 thousand participants from 111 countries at the beginning of October and is preparing for the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) of the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change to be held in November, has also become the address of different international congresses in the autumn months.

On the one hand, the city where congress tourism is intense, on the other hand, there is a mobility of foreign tourists coming for both sports and holiday.

According to the data of airports in Antalya, the number of foreign tourists coming to the city between January 1 and October 27 reached 15 million 67 thousand. The city, which has a population of approximately 2 million 800 thousand, hosted foreign tourists more than 5 times its population.

Antalya Governor Hulusi Şahin told the AA correspondent that autumn was pleasant in the city with the favorable climatic conditions.

Stating that the dynamism of international organizations is especially effective in the tourism activity in the city, Şahin said, "COP31 will be an event that will save almost the entire month of November." he said.

Stating that the COP31 area will operate as a congress and fair center in the coming years, Şahin stated that bringing such a large area to Antalya will also positively affect tourism.

Şahin stated that in this way, the autumn months will be even more active with congress activities.

Underlining that Antalya is a successful city in tourism, Şahin said:

"There are 111 million overnight stays in Antalya. 111 million overnight stays correspond to approximately 44 percent of Turkey's tourism income. It is a huge figure. If it were a country, Antalya alone would be one of the largest tourism countries in the world. Antalya is a city with enough hotels and enough rooms. It has nowhere else to go. Now, with neighboring cities, new stories, new destinations, maybe new transportation networks, it is now a new tourism that continues for 12 months." "We need to evolve to a tourism approach. Antalya is now moving towards that, hopefully we will be successful in this regard."

Occupancy rates in hotels are pleasing

Professional Hotel Managers Association (POYD) President Hakan Saatçioğlu also stated that they had a productive autumn and that the number of foreign tourists coming to the city as of yesterday was recorded as 15 million 67 thousand.

Stating that reservations for COP31 are continuing, Saatçioğlu said, "We have learned that there is no room left in the COP31 fairground at the moment. In fact, if there was more space, more places could be sold." he said.

Stating that the mobility of foreign tourists coming for holidays outside of COP31 continues intensively, Saatçioğlu said:

"We always experience high occupancy in September, October and the first 15 days of November. Because price reductions occur in this period. The weather conditions are also very favorable. The sea is still warm. That is why our reservations are still very serious, and the occupancy is very good at the moment. We host the most guests from Germany and other European countries, and we also receive high reservations from Poland and Belgium. We are receiving very serious reservations in these areas right now."

Saatçioğlu added that golf tourism has also become more active in the city.