Spanish Ambassador to Ankara Juan Gonzalez-Barba has paid a visit to Antalya and met with Governor of Antalya. The ambassador was reported to admire Turkey’s unparalleled success in tourism sector during his visit.
The ambassador who visited the governor in his office said, “"We hear that you break records every week. We want to see how you manage tourism”.
In reply to the ambassador’s question the governor pointed out that Turkey and Spain were in a sweet competition in tourism sector and added;
"We are actually following each other. Tourism in Turkey and Antalya enjoyed a rapid rise after the crisis in 2016, and that progress still continues. We used to figure out how Spain had gone that far in tourism and tried to take it for an example. Last year, a delegation from Spain arrived in Antalya to find out how Antalya had achieved such growth after the 2016 crisis. I think we have things to learn from each other”.
Tourism city Antalya which hosts millions of tourists each year is going to close 2019 with a very successful performance. While the number of tourists coming to the city became 14 million 856 thousand, Russians took the first place according to the breakdown of nationalities with 5 million 406 thousand.
Antalya attracts attention with its cultural assets as well as its sea, sand, sun and luxury hotels. It has hosted millions of domestic and foreign tourists in 2019. The city which is referred to as the “capital of Tourism”, will close the 2019 season with new records. According to the figures of Antalya Governorate Airport administrative authority, the total number of tourists coming to the city this year was 14 million 856 thousand 153. The city was home to 6 million 181,913 tourists in 2016, 9 million 738,962 in 2017 and 12 million 712,603 in 2018.
The Germans were in the second place after the Russians, with a figure of 2,584,341. This figure was recorded as 2,227,000 in 2018. Ukraine took the third place with 798,817 and the UK was in fourth place with 694,928.
