In sport, the occasions are rare when you find yourself at peak fitness with your opponents suffering under various ailments and the conditions under which you are being asked to compete leaning heavily in your favour. But that's the position of Turkey's flourishing travel industry and things just seem to be getting better and better. While many other European travel destinations have seen falling visitor numbers, general economic conditions proving slow to recover and many travel-related businesses struggling after several years of healthy operation, the key destinations in southern Turkey have been quietly building on recent successes. Those factors which have allowed Turkey to continue its resort development with both foreign and local investment may still be getting better so expect Turkey to become an even bigger player over future years. Many of the world's premier hotel chains now have a significant presence in the region and aim to reap the rewards of the predicted growth in visitor numbers over the years to come.
So why is this happening to Turkey? Well the global recession may seem an unlikely factor but the troubles that have damaged other economies have had a relatively mild impact in Turkey. So while more mainstream destinations in other parts of Europe have been slowly inching up their prices to soak up the affluent Western European's budgets, Turkey has remained quite affordable. That price difference was not a major attraction until very recently when the spending power of the average European traveller was significantly reduced. That brought Turkey's offerings into the spotlight and for holidaymakers from countries outside the Eurozone, the strength of the Euro currency also made places like France and Portugal relatively more expensive than in the past. Even though there are experts who predict the Euro/Sterling position to retreat back in favour of the British traveller soon, most people are booking summer holidays now and so it is largely irrelevant. That makes Turkey, which has not yet adopted the Euro, quite immune from these exchange rate factors.
Getting to and moving around in southern Turkey is getting easier, with several airports positioned along its southern and south-western coastline, reducing transfer times to most major resorts to an hour or less. The coastline here is almost 1000 miles long, so a range of convenient arrival points is seen as crucial by the authorities if long airport to resort journeys are to be avoided.
Climate, or weather, is always an influence when decisions about where to holiday are being made and Turkey has no issues here, with fantastic summers almost guaranteed. During the main summer months of May to September the weather in southern Turkey couldn't be better. Hardly any rain, clear blue skies and warm sea temperatures can be expected. If anything the temperatures can get a little too high for some people, but they are not as testing as places like North Africa can become during the height of summer.
Beaches, beaches, beaches. No holiday area would stand a chance of attracting significant levels of visitors without a collection of fine sandy beaches and here also Turkey is able to compete with the best.
For those who need more than just long lazy days on the beach there are also attractions in this part of Turkey to keep people occupied. Ancient history has left its mark here in a most beautiful way and many of the region's most amazing attractions are the well preserved remains of past civilisations. The Ottoman houses of Antalya are wonderful but the most amazing experience for many is to witness a live performance at the Aspendos Amphitheatre, a 20,000 seat Roman construction that looks very similar to the way it must have done almost 2000 years ago. It is widely rated as the world's best preserved ancient theatre.
So with all their players at peak fitness, the opposition down to ten injured players and a strong tailwind at their backs, team Turkey really has nothing to stop it scoring some significant goals this summer. We expect to see Turkey at the top of travel league for many years to come.
Mark suggests that with flights to Antalya being provided from many UK airports UK tourists will make up large percentage of visitors to Turkey this year.
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