Romania was among the least popular tourist destinations for foreign tourists in the EU, in 2015, along with much smaller countries such as Slovakia, Latvia, and Luxembourg, according to data from EU’s statistical office Eurostat.
The statistics take into consideration the number of nights spent by foreign tourists in local hotels and guest houses.
The four most popular EU destinations for non-residents were Spain (270 million nights), Italy (193 million nights), France (130 million nights), and the United Kingdom (118 million nights), which together accounted for more than half of total nights spent by non-residents in the EU.
Meanwhile, less than 5 million nights were registered in Romanian accommodation units in 2015, the number being over two times lower than the one registered in neighboring Bulgaria (more than 13 million nights), and Hungary (almost 13 million nights).
The only EU Member Countries doing worse than Romania, based on number of nights spent by non-residents, were Slovakia – around 4.38 million nights, Estonia – 3.77 million, Lithuania – 3 million, Latvia – 2.87 million, and Luxembourg – 2.65 million, all being much smaller countries than Romania.
Romania is also last in the EU on tourism intensity, which results from dividing the number of nights spent by both foreign and local tourists in local hotels by the number of inhabitants.
Malta, Croatia, Cyprus, Austria, and Spain are the most tourism intensive countries in the EU.
Moreover, foreign tourists continue to spend less in Romania than Romanian tourists spend abroad, Eurostat statistics show.
In 2015, Romanian tourists spent some EUR 1.85 billion abroad while foreign tourists spent EUR 1.54 billion in Romania.
Spain has the highest positive balance from international tourism, with net receipts of over EUR 35 billion, followed by Italy – EUR 13.5 billion, and Greece – EUR 12 billion.
Meanwhile, Germany is the biggest spender, with net expenditure of EUR 36.6 billion, followed by UK – EUR 16 billion, and Belgium – EUR 6.2 billion.
The Romanian Ministry of Tourism announced last week that the country’s tourism promotion offices abroad, which are the institutions that promote the Romanian tourism abroad and attract foreign tourists to Romania, will shut down and their employees will return to the country.
Foreign tourists spend on average EUR 525 per person in Romania
Tourism minister: Nobody knows for sure how many foreign tourists come to Romania
Number of incoming foreign tourists to Romania up to 2.47 million in 2016
Tourism, Travel, Hospitality, Conservation: News,Stories And Experiences From Allover The World
Showing posts with label slovakia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label slovakia. Show all posts
Wednesday, 7 June 2017
CHINA: Central And Eastern Europe Tourism Exchange Week Event In Ningbo
The official Central And Eastern Europe Tourism Exchange Week will open today, June 7th 2017 in the coastal city of Ningbo.
The event is organized by Ningbo Tourism Administration.
The Central and Eastern Europe exchange is the third Chinese Investment and Trade Expo of its type. Central and Eastern European tourism exchange week is the Chinese government directive to expand mutual cooperation and development in the region.
The exchange week welcomes official representatives from the Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia, Latvia, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Benin and Romania.
Ningbo is a beautiful coastal city on the East China Sea. It has advanced transportation infrastructure, a developed information & technology industry, and over two thousand years of Chinese history and culture.
Ningbo is a thriving social and business environment, representing modern China's many decades of development, urban management and the unprecedented growth of industry.
Ningbo is an ideal window into understanding the development of China. To host the third China International Investment and Trade Expo at this week's exchange is of great importance to the city of Ningbo.
The representatives and their nation states have expressed their willingness to cooperate fully under the mutually beneficial framework of "One Belt One Road" cooperation.
The framework will aim to increase quantities of Chinese tourists traveling to the participating country within this year. The "One Belt One Road" agreement plans a new era of Chinese tourism and prosperity for all participating countries.
The event is organized by Ningbo Tourism Administration.
The Central and Eastern Europe exchange is the third Chinese Investment and Trade Expo of its type. Central and Eastern European tourism exchange week is the Chinese government directive to expand mutual cooperation and development in the region.
The exchange week welcomes official representatives from the Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia, Latvia, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Benin and Romania.
Ningbo is a beautiful coastal city on the East China Sea. It has advanced transportation infrastructure, a developed information & technology industry, and over two thousand years of Chinese history and culture.
Ningbo is a thriving social and business environment, representing modern China's many decades of development, urban management and the unprecedented growth of industry.
Ningbo is an ideal window into understanding the development of China. To host the third China International Investment and Trade Expo at this week's exchange is of great importance to the city of Ningbo.
The representatives and their nation states have expressed their willingness to cooperate fully under the mutually beneficial framework of "One Belt One Road" cooperation.
The framework will aim to increase quantities of Chinese tourists traveling to the participating country within this year. The "One Belt One Road" agreement plans a new era of Chinese tourism and prosperity for all participating countries.
Saturday, 20 May 2017
POLAND: Visegrad Four Promoting Tourism In Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland And Slovakia
Promoting travel and tourism and sharing benefits between the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia is very much part of the Visegrad Group also known as the “Visegrad Four” or simply “V4” They reflect the efforts of the countries of the Central European region to work together in a number of fields of common interest within the all-European integration.
Member countries had always been part of a single civilization sharing cultural and intellectual values and common roots in diverse religious traditions, which they wish to preserve and further strengthen.
All the V4 countries aspired to become members of the European Union, perceiving their integration in the EU as another step forward in the process of overcoming artificial dividing lines in Europe through mutual support. They reached this aim in 2004 (1st May) when they all became members of the EU.
Poland currently is holding the presidency of the Group and hosted a high-level meeting to address the opportunities and issues in sharing tourism.
“For Chinese tourists traveling to Europe, Kraków, Prague or Budapest are very similar, popular destinations. The question is how to package a good tourist product for them, ” said Dawid Lasek from the Polish Sport and Tourism Ministry.
The V4 was not created as an alternative to the all-European integration efforts, nor does it try to compete with the existing functional Central European structures. Its activities are in no way aimed at isolation or the weakening of ties with the other countries.
On the contrary the Group aims at encouraging optimum cooperation with all countries, in particular its neighbours, its ultimate interest being the democratic development in all parts of Europe.
The Visegrad Group wishes to contribute towards building the European security architecture based on effective, functionally complementary and mutually reinforcing cooperation and coordination within existing European and transatlantic institutions.
In order to preserve and promote cultural cohesion, cooperation within the Visegrad Group will enhance the imparting of values in the field of culture, education, science and exchange of information.
All the activities of the Visegrad Group are aimed at strengthening stability in the Central European region. The participating countries perceive their cooperation as a challenge and its success as the best proof of their ability to integrate also into such structures, such as the European Union.
Meanwhile, Following an impressive month of 15% growth in passenger traffic in November, Budapest Airport has today welcomed its 11 millionth passenger this year, the first time this milestone has been reached in the airport’s 66-year history.
Setting a new record for annual passengers for a third year running, the Hungarian gateway has experienced an average 10% growth in passenger traffic, establishing Budapest as one of the fastest growing tourism markets in Europe at this time.
Heightened by the addition of 16 new destinations this year, along with 14 airlines significantly increasing frequency to essential hubs such as Amsterdam, London Heathrow and Doha, the airport has connected to more than 100 scheduled destinations throughout the year.
Today’s achievement was celebrated with airberlin, with the oneworld alliance airline carrying Budapest’s 11 millionth passenger from Budapest to Berlin Tegel – a route which has also seen a frequency increase this year with the addition of a third daily flight.
Last year we experienced remarkable passenger traffic growth and to watch the robust development continue into 2016 is a rewarding time for us all, said Kam Jandu, CCO, Budapest Airport. He added: We approached this year with a strategy to do all we could to ensure Budapest, and Hungary, remain an attractive and competitive market, and I believe we’ve not only succeeded in this goal but also ensured the demands of our passengers, as well as our business partners, have been met.
To ensure the Hungarian gateway is ready to meet further demand, the airport will invest approximately €180 million into its infrastructure over the next three years. The investment will see a number of developments including a new airport hotel, check-in area extension, a new Pier B, and a new Terminal C cargo facility.
Expecting to welcome 11.3 million passengers overall by the end of December, Budapest will have delivered an impressive 22% growth from 2014 to this year-end, a record-breaking expansion in Central and Eastern Europe.
Member countries had always been part of a single civilization sharing cultural and intellectual values and common roots in diverse religious traditions, which they wish to preserve and further strengthen.
All the V4 countries aspired to become members of the European Union, perceiving their integration in the EU as another step forward in the process of overcoming artificial dividing lines in Europe through mutual support. They reached this aim in 2004 (1st May) when they all became members of the EU.
Poland currently is holding the presidency of the Group and hosted a high-level meeting to address the opportunities and issues in sharing tourism.
“For Chinese tourists traveling to Europe, Kraków, Prague or Budapest are very similar, popular destinations. The question is how to package a good tourist product for them, ” said Dawid Lasek from the Polish Sport and Tourism Ministry.
The V4 was not created as an alternative to the all-European integration efforts, nor does it try to compete with the existing functional Central European structures. Its activities are in no way aimed at isolation or the weakening of ties with the other countries.
On the contrary the Group aims at encouraging optimum cooperation with all countries, in particular its neighbours, its ultimate interest being the democratic development in all parts of Europe.
The Visegrad Group wishes to contribute towards building the European security architecture based on effective, functionally complementary and mutually reinforcing cooperation and coordination within existing European and transatlantic institutions.
In order to preserve and promote cultural cohesion, cooperation within the Visegrad Group will enhance the imparting of values in the field of culture, education, science and exchange of information.
All the activities of the Visegrad Group are aimed at strengthening stability in the Central European region. The participating countries perceive their cooperation as a challenge and its success as the best proof of their ability to integrate also into such structures, such as the European Union.
Meanwhile, Following an impressive month of 15% growth in passenger traffic in November, Budapest Airport has today welcomed its 11 millionth passenger this year, the first time this milestone has been reached in the airport’s 66-year history.
Setting a new record for annual passengers for a third year running, the Hungarian gateway has experienced an average 10% growth in passenger traffic, establishing Budapest as one of the fastest growing tourism markets in Europe at this time.
Heightened by the addition of 16 new destinations this year, along with 14 airlines significantly increasing frequency to essential hubs such as Amsterdam, London Heathrow and Doha, the airport has connected to more than 100 scheduled destinations throughout the year.
Today’s achievement was celebrated with airberlin, with the oneworld alliance airline carrying Budapest’s 11 millionth passenger from Budapest to Berlin Tegel – a route which has also seen a frequency increase this year with the addition of a third daily flight.
Last year we experienced remarkable passenger traffic growth and to watch the robust development continue into 2016 is a rewarding time for us all, said Kam Jandu, CCO, Budapest Airport. He added: We approached this year with a strategy to do all we could to ensure Budapest, and Hungary, remain an attractive and competitive market, and I believe we’ve not only succeeded in this goal but also ensured the demands of our passengers, as well as our business partners, have been met.
To ensure the Hungarian gateway is ready to meet further demand, the airport will invest approximately €180 million into its infrastructure over the next three years. The investment will see a number of developments including a new airport hotel, check-in area extension, a new Pier B, and a new Terminal C cargo facility.
Expecting to welcome 11.3 million passengers overall by the end of December, Budapest will have delivered an impressive 22% growth from 2014 to this year-end, a record-breaking expansion in Central and Eastern Europe.
Tuesday, 1 November 2016
RUSSIA: Russian Federation Refuses Pobeda Airlines To Fly To Turin
The carrier requested admittance of flights on this destination 7 times a week. The airline companies "Siberia" (S7 group) and "Ural Airlines" also claimed to this slot. As a result, according to the order, the first company received 5 frequencies per week, the second one - 2.
It was reported earlier, that "Pobeda" gained admission to 7 frequencies per week to another Italian city - Pisa. Flights on this route the company plans to open in the winter schedule 2016/2017. Currently, "Pobeda" performs flights to Milan.
"Pobeda" is a low cost carrier of "Aeroflot" group. Flights are performed by 12 Boeing-737-800 to 58 destination, including 8 international: to several cities in Germany, Spain, Italy, Slovakia, Montenegro and Cyprus.
Thursday, 21 July 2016
ESTONIA: Will Russian Tourists Visit Estonia
For this summertime season, worryingly low are bookings at Estonia’s hotels. Should visitors be down just as sharply as in winter, the blow for local tourism biz might prove severe. For several players, outright catastrophic.
At the moment, bookings are down from all main markets, but in a month we’ll see how dramatic it will be in peak season,said Estonian Travel and Tourism Association president Külli Karing.
If the 11 percent drop is carried over into the summer, the sustainability of the service may start to be affected, because in the summer period every percent equals a much larger amount of people and bigger money.
Lots of hotels make majority of their income in the summers and should the clients disappear, they might not be able to keep doors open.
At the beginning of the year, Estonia fell to the bottom of European tourism barrel, with Finland, and Slovakia, as in the other 16 nations surveyed by EU tourism committee the trend was uphill.
Due to poor economy, the Russians dropped their traditional travels to Estonia in the winter, leading to an over 11 percent drop, confirmed the study. The Finns, also dependent on Eastern neighbours, fared worse still – more than a fifth of visitors were lost.
Russians cut back travels into lion’s share of European nations, except for Montenegro and Romania. Therefore, the damage done to our tourism business revealed our deep addiction to visitors from the East, and an inability to replace Russian tourists with folks from elsewhere.
On top of the tourism services VAT rise, cold-bloodedly and ill-timely served up by the new government, entrepreneurs are troubled by the drying up of connections with the world outside. The disappearance of train lines to Moscow and St Petersburg may seem like a tragedy of the few railway companies, but Ms Karing says this is suffocating for all tourism companies.
Up to now, any new travel channel opened such as an air line has blessed Estonian hotels with added visitors. Tourism firms in Ida-Viru County, blooming mainly due to Russian citizens, acknowledge the downturn to come but believe their former good clients would still find the near-Narva beaches this summer as well.
To attract tourists, Ida-Viru people have joined forces, to sell packages of hotels, Narva Castle, mining museum, and Alutaguse Adventure Park.
At the moment, the tempo of bookings is below the average, the foreign tourists are fewer as they desire more options, to see more places that would be attractive, related Sergei Jegorovtsev, senior sales manager at Meresuu Hotel.
We are rather negatively affected by the campaign in Russia promoting internal tourism whereby they want people to visit Crimea and spend their money there, not in neighbouring Estonia.
As for the tourism VAT in the situation where tourists are drying up is, according to Mr Jegorovtsev, a matter of life and death. We expect the government to show understanding and support in the difficult situation: we would need help to advertise in neighbouring countries, not to have tax raised, said Mr Jegorovtsev.
Thankfully, this past month the rouble has stayed stable, making the Estonian price level much friendlier towards Russians as compared to just a few months back. While the rouble rate plummeted and Russian travel agencies sizzled in bankruptcies, bookings were cancelled en masse.
New companies arose in the place of those that went bankrupt, we begun to form relations with them, but there are fewer people coming via the new companies as the people trust them less,admitted Mr Jegorovtsev.
At the moment, we have more of the domestic tourists than Russian ones, as we have made special offers for locals.
Likewise, Narva-Jõesuu town government is predicting a drop in tourist arrivals, but is drawing its plans hoping that their summer-friends will still find the way back somehow.
We hope that Russia being so close by the people will return, said Narva-Jõesuu town government culture specialist Jevgeni Timoštsuk.
A tourist will not leave behind as much money as last year. My acquaintances and friends from Russia reckon that perhaps they will stay at a hotel, eat breakfast there, but the supper they will buy in grocery store.
With great festivity, this coming Sunday Narva-Jõesuu will open the beach season. Despite the fact that the longest beach in Estonia and probably in the Baltics was cleaned up by the start of this week and lined with changing rooms, as Postimees paid a visit is was just these five US students trying to have a good time there, who study Russian at Narva College.
It was so cold that the poor youth were shuddering. Hailing from Carolina, a lad said it was 30 degrees Celsius back home. Still, he said Narva-Jõesuu is a nice place to be.
A town of 2,700 inhabitants, Narva-Jõesuu swells to 15,000 in summer – mainly on account of Estonian domestic tourists and people from St Petersburg.
At the moment, bookings are down from all main markets, but in a month we’ll see how dramatic it will be in peak season,said Estonian Travel and Tourism Association president Külli Karing.
If the 11 percent drop is carried over into the summer, the sustainability of the service may start to be affected, because in the summer period every percent equals a much larger amount of people and bigger money.
Lots of hotels make majority of their income in the summers and should the clients disappear, they might not be able to keep doors open.
At the beginning of the year, Estonia fell to the bottom of European tourism barrel, with Finland, and Slovakia, as in the other 16 nations surveyed by EU tourism committee the trend was uphill.
Due to poor economy, the Russians dropped their traditional travels to Estonia in the winter, leading to an over 11 percent drop, confirmed the study. The Finns, also dependent on Eastern neighbours, fared worse still – more than a fifth of visitors were lost.
Russians cut back travels into lion’s share of European nations, except for Montenegro and Romania. Therefore, the damage done to our tourism business revealed our deep addiction to visitors from the East, and an inability to replace Russian tourists with folks from elsewhere.
On top of the tourism services VAT rise, cold-bloodedly and ill-timely served up by the new government, entrepreneurs are troubled by the drying up of connections with the world outside. The disappearance of train lines to Moscow and St Petersburg may seem like a tragedy of the few railway companies, but Ms Karing says this is suffocating for all tourism companies.
Up to now, any new travel channel opened such as an air line has blessed Estonian hotels with added visitors. Tourism firms in Ida-Viru County, blooming mainly due to Russian citizens, acknowledge the downturn to come but believe their former good clients would still find the near-Narva beaches this summer as well.
To attract tourists, Ida-Viru people have joined forces, to sell packages of hotels, Narva Castle, mining museum, and Alutaguse Adventure Park.
At the moment, the tempo of bookings is below the average, the foreign tourists are fewer as they desire more options, to see more places that would be attractive, related Sergei Jegorovtsev, senior sales manager at Meresuu Hotel.
We are rather negatively affected by the campaign in Russia promoting internal tourism whereby they want people to visit Crimea and spend their money there, not in neighbouring Estonia.
As for the tourism VAT in the situation where tourists are drying up is, according to Mr Jegorovtsev, a matter of life and death. We expect the government to show understanding and support in the difficult situation: we would need help to advertise in neighbouring countries, not to have tax raised, said Mr Jegorovtsev.
Thankfully, this past month the rouble has stayed stable, making the Estonian price level much friendlier towards Russians as compared to just a few months back. While the rouble rate plummeted and Russian travel agencies sizzled in bankruptcies, bookings were cancelled en masse.
New companies arose in the place of those that went bankrupt, we begun to form relations with them, but there are fewer people coming via the new companies as the people trust them less,admitted Mr Jegorovtsev.
At the moment, we have more of the domestic tourists than Russian ones, as we have made special offers for locals.
Likewise, Narva-Jõesuu town government is predicting a drop in tourist arrivals, but is drawing its plans hoping that their summer-friends will still find the way back somehow.
We hope that Russia being so close by the people will return, said Narva-Jõesuu town government culture specialist Jevgeni Timoštsuk.
A tourist will not leave behind as much money as last year. My acquaintances and friends from Russia reckon that perhaps they will stay at a hotel, eat breakfast there, but the supper they will buy in grocery store.
With great festivity, this coming Sunday Narva-Jõesuu will open the beach season. Despite the fact that the longest beach in Estonia and probably in the Baltics was cleaned up by the start of this week and lined with changing rooms, as Postimees paid a visit is was just these five US students trying to have a good time there, who study Russian at Narva College.
It was so cold that the poor youth were shuddering. Hailing from Carolina, a lad said it was 30 degrees Celsius back home. Still, he said Narva-Jõesuu is a nice place to be.
A town of 2,700 inhabitants, Narva-Jõesuu swells to 15,000 in summer – mainly on account of Estonian domestic tourists and people from St Petersburg.
Thursday, 18 February 2016
TURKEY: Antalya Records Less Russian Tourists With 81% Decrease
The number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey’s top holiday resort town of Antalya decreased by 81 percent, as their numbers plummeted to 2,427 in January from 12,870 of January 2015 while the total number of tourists visiting the city in January decreased 17 percent, according to official figures.
Numbers also showed that only a total of 97,601 tourists visited Antalya in January, the lowest for January in the last decade.
Antalya hosted some 135,010 tourists in January 2006 and 125,446 in January 2007. It saw its highest turnout in January 2008 with 140,306. In January 2009 and January 2010, Antalya received 106,539 and 140,019 visitors, respectively. After 2010, the number of tourists visiting the city reached a stable level, with 126,272 tourists in January 2011, 122,314 in January 2012, 111,485 in January 2013 and 116,974 in January 2014. Last January, Antalya’s total visitors stood at 117,746.
Antalya gathers millions of local and international tourists each year, with its luxury hotels usually overbooked especially in the summer seasons. Meanwhile in winter, tourism slows down due to dropping temperatures.
The Russian market experienced the largest decrease in the number of tourists visiting the city in January 2016, as Russia ranked 5th in 2016, compared to 2nd in 2015 in terms of countries with the highest number of visitors to Antalya.
Turkey was Russia’s number one foreign tourism destination for years but this came to an abrupt end following the shooting down of a Russian military plane by Turkish jets on the Syria-Turkey border on Nov. 24, 2015. Upon the incident, Russia imposed economic sanctions against Turkey and travel restrictions on Russian tourists visiting Turkey.
Turkey’s tourism industry also expects to see losses in other markets this year after an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) suicide bomb attack in Istanbul’s top tourist spot Sultanahmet, which killed 11 German tourists on Jan. 12, highlighted security concerns for tourists planning to visit Turkey.
The loss in the German market stood at 16 percent as the number of Germans visiting Antalya decreased to 44,262 in January 2016 from 52,731 in January 2015. While Germans took the top spot for tourists in Antalya, the Dutch followed second. However the Dutch market has also decreased by 20 percent compared to 2015, as this year’s January number fell to 4,544 from 5,688.
The number of Israeli visitors saw a 122 percent increase, bringing it to third. In January 2016, the number of Israeli tourists visiting the city reached to 4,475, a huge leap from 2,008 visitors in January 2015.
Britain came fourth with a 14 percent decrease as Antalya only hosted some 2,965 English tourists in January. British tourists mostly like Antalya for its luxury golf club resorts in the Belek region of the province.
According to the statistics of Antalya’s provincial directorate of culture and tourism, among the 38 countries that send tourists to Antalya, only nine surpassed their January 2015 numbers. However, the surplus in the number of tourists arriving from these nine (which included Israel, Ukraine, France, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Estonia, Serbia and Syria) covered only 30 percent of the loss caused by the decrease in the Russian market.
Numbers also showed that only a total of 97,601 tourists visited Antalya in January, the lowest for January in the last decade.
Antalya hosted some 135,010 tourists in January 2006 and 125,446 in January 2007. It saw its highest turnout in January 2008 with 140,306. In January 2009 and January 2010, Antalya received 106,539 and 140,019 visitors, respectively. After 2010, the number of tourists visiting the city reached a stable level, with 126,272 tourists in January 2011, 122,314 in January 2012, 111,485 in January 2013 and 116,974 in January 2014. Last January, Antalya’s total visitors stood at 117,746.
Antalya gathers millions of local and international tourists each year, with its luxury hotels usually overbooked especially in the summer seasons. Meanwhile in winter, tourism slows down due to dropping temperatures.
The Russian market experienced the largest decrease in the number of tourists visiting the city in January 2016, as Russia ranked 5th in 2016, compared to 2nd in 2015 in terms of countries with the highest number of visitors to Antalya.
Turkey was Russia’s number one foreign tourism destination for years but this came to an abrupt end following the shooting down of a Russian military plane by Turkish jets on the Syria-Turkey border on Nov. 24, 2015. Upon the incident, Russia imposed economic sanctions against Turkey and travel restrictions on Russian tourists visiting Turkey.
Turkey’s tourism industry also expects to see losses in other markets this year after an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) suicide bomb attack in Istanbul’s top tourist spot Sultanahmet, which killed 11 German tourists on Jan. 12, highlighted security concerns for tourists planning to visit Turkey.
The loss in the German market stood at 16 percent as the number of Germans visiting Antalya decreased to 44,262 in January 2016 from 52,731 in January 2015. While Germans took the top spot for tourists in Antalya, the Dutch followed second. However the Dutch market has also decreased by 20 percent compared to 2015, as this year’s January number fell to 4,544 from 5,688.
The number of Israeli visitors saw a 122 percent increase, bringing it to third. In January 2016, the number of Israeli tourists visiting the city reached to 4,475, a huge leap from 2,008 visitors in January 2015.
Britain came fourth with a 14 percent decrease as Antalya only hosted some 2,965 English tourists in January. British tourists mostly like Antalya for its luxury golf club resorts in the Belek region of the province.
According to the statistics of Antalya’s provincial directorate of culture and tourism, among the 38 countries that send tourists to Antalya, only nine surpassed their January 2015 numbers. However, the surplus in the number of tourists arriving from these nine (which included Israel, Ukraine, France, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Estonia, Serbia and Syria) covered only 30 percent of the loss caused by the decrease in the Russian market.
Sunday, 7 February 2016
TURKEY: Fastest Growing Airport In Europe - Sabiha Gokcen International Airport
Amongst Top 30 European Airports, Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW) in Istanbul recorded the fastest growth in passenger numbers, with a 19.7% growth Y-o-Y.
At EU airports, the average increase in passenger traffic was +5.6% with airports in Ireland, Portugal, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and Lithuania achieving double-digit growth.
Meanwhile, non-EU airports reported diminished growth of +3.9%. This was mainly due to a significant decline in demand for air travel across Russian and Ukrainian airports, as well as almost flat growth in Norway – despite a stellar increase in passenger traffic in Iceland and sustained growth at most Turkish airports.
Freight traffic at Europe’s airports only grew by +0.7%, as international trade remained subdued. Aircraft movements saw an increase of +2.2%.
ACI EUROPE Director General Olivier Jankovec said:
“2015 has been a very good year in terms of passenger traffic, with European airports welcoming an estimated 1,95 billion passengers. 20% of them achieved a double-digit increase and many broke new traffic records – mostly fueled by the continued growth of low cost airlines and selected non-EU airlines.”
“EU airports generally performed extremely well, despite Germany and France being impacted by airline & ATC strikes and the Paris terror attacks.”
“Remarkably, Istanbul-Atatürk airport became the 3rd busiest European airport with 61,8 million passengers, after London-Heathrow (74,9 million) and Paris-Charles de Gaulle (65,7 million). It should be noted however that small regional airports* across the continent underperformed the European average, with their passenger volume only increasing by +3,8%.”
“This is indicative of traffic growth becoming more concentrated and less inclusive.”
Commenting on the air traffic recovery since the global financial crisis, Jankovec added:
“While the EU economy did not even grow by +3% between 2008 and 2015, passenger traffic at EU airports increased by +13,6% over the same period. Such a wide gap is pointing to a lasting discontinuity in the usual relationship between GDP growth and passenger traffic performance.”
“This is reflective of new market dynamics, changing consumer behaviours and the increased importance of air transport for the European economy.”
GROUP 1 Airports: Madrid-Barajas (+12.0%), Istanbul IST (+9.1%), Amsterdam (+6.0%), London LGW and Barcelona El-Prat (+5.7%) and Rome FCO (+5.0%)
GROUP 2 Airports: Istanbul SAW (19.7%), Athens (+19.1%), Dublin (+15.3%), London STN (+12.8%) and Izmir (+12.1%)
GROUP 3 Airports: Milan BGY (+18.6%), Gothenburg GOT (+18.1%), Berlin SXF (+16.9%), Porto (+16.7%) and Glasgow (+12.9%)
GROUP 4 Airports: Ohrid (+53.3%), Ponta Delgada (+29.5%), Astrakhan (+26.1%), Santorini/Thira (+87.6%), Cluj and Timisoara (+25.8%)
Among the airports in the Top 5, several airports will now move to a higher traffic category for 2016.
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
MACEDONIA: Wizz Air Expands To Macedonia
WIZZ will connect the Macedonian capital with Berlin Schoenefeld from 21 March 2016, while the new Skopje services to Copenhagen and Bratislava will commence in 22 and 28 March, respectively. Each new route will operate two times a week.
Bratislava and Copenhagen, the capitals and economic centers of Slovakia and Denmark are two new destinations in Wizz Air’s network of 116 airports.
Wizz Air is now offering a total of 24 routes to 11 countries from its two Macedonian airports, Skopje and Ohrid.
Wizz Air’s Tamara Mshvenieradze said: ”Wizz Air has today once again underlined its commitment to Macedonia as Skopje’s hometown airline.
We are thrilled to announce three new routes from Skopje to the capitals of Denmark, Germany and Slovakia, and we are confident that these three new routes will be as popular as the other 21 in our ever-growing Macedonian network.
Seats on the new routes went on sale today and we urge customers to snap up the lowest fares on wizzair.com, mobile website or through our smartphone apps. Our Macedonian crew looks forward to welcoming you on board your next Wizz Air flight!”
Friday, 4 December 2015
Wizz Air Adds Bratislava And Copenhagen To Its Network
Central and Eastern European low-cost airline specialist, Wizz Air is to add two new European capital cities to its network as it expands its route network from Macedonia with three new routes from Skopje’s Alexander The Great Airport.
The carrier will launch its first flights to Bratislava, Slovakia and Copenhagen, Denmark, as well launch a new route to Berlin Schoenefeld as it reinforces its position as Skopje’s principal carrier and Macedonia’s de facto national carrier. All three routes will be operated on a twice weekly frequency with flights to Berlin commencing from March 21, 2016; Copenhagen from March 22, 2016 and Bratislava from March 28, 2016.
This will be the first scheduled route between Macedonia and Slovakia and will resurrect a link into Denmark that was last served by SAS Scandinavian Airlines over ten years ago in March 2005.
Wizz Air introduced operations in Macedonia in June 2011 with flights between Skopje and London Luton and is now offering a total of 24 routes to eleven countries from Skopje and Ohrid.
Elsewhere, Wizz Air has confirmed it will open a new base at Iasi International Airport, its sixth in Romania. The airline will station a single A320 in the largest city in eastern Romania to increase the number of routes served from Iasi to eight and will triple the seat capacity to 265,000 in 2016. The airline hopes this will stimulate the local job market in aviation and tourism sectors as consumers will have access to more low cost routes.
The new aircraft will facilitate the introduction of a three times weekly link to Bologna and twice weekly services to Catania, Larnaca, Rome Ciampino and Tel Aviv from the start of July 2016. It will also allow frequencies to Milan Bergamo to increase from two to three a week, adding to the significant growth of the Iasi – London Luton route which will grow from two to five weekly rotations from the end of March 2016.
Wizz Air first launched flights in Romania in 2007 and now offers a total of 106 Romanian routes to 16 countries from eight Romanian airports.
“We put Iasi on the map of aviation a year ago and it will now become the sixth Romanian airport where we establish base operations,” said György Abrán, Chief Commercial Officer, Wizz Air. “We have constantly expanded our operations in Romania, developed regional airports, and this announcement once again underlines our commitment to the country.”
The latest expansion and the flights to two new European capitals will increase the Wizz Air network to 116 airports across 38 countries as it continues its rapid growth. Its departure capacity has grown at an average annual rate of 64.4 per cent between 2005 and 2104 from just over 2.5 million seats to almost 17.5 million last year. This year capacity will grow by an estimated 24.0 per cent to over 21.5 million departure seats.
Analysis of OAG schedule data shows that the airline’s top five country markets – Poland, United Kingdom, Romania, Italy and Hungary – account for a 58.0 per cent share of its capacity offering.
Tuesday, 6 October 2015
World's Unfriendliest & Friendliest Countries For Tourists
When traveling, some countries just don't like you. Or at least, it can certainly feel that way.
A new report, put out earlier this month by the World Economic Forum, has ranked which countries roll out the welcome mat to travelers and which give the cold shoulder.
The "Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013" ranked 140 countries according to attractiveness and competitiveness in the travel and tourism industries.
Unwelcoming
Among the extensive analyses, one of the most interesting rankings was how welcome tourists are in each country, under the category "Attitude of population toward foreign visitors."
And the world's most unfriendly country, according to the data?
Bolivia took the dubious honor, scoring a 4.1 out of seven on a scale of "very unwelcome" (0) to "very welcome" (7).
Venezuela and the Russian Federation were next.
Interestingly, despite their huge tourist arrivals, South Korea and China tied with four other countries for the eighth least friendly spot.
At the other end of the scale, Iceland and New Zealand were ranked the world's most welcoming nations for visitors.
You can see a top 10 for friendliest and unfriendliest at the bottom of this article.
Strengths and weaknesses
The "friendly" ranking was just one aspect of the report, analyzing each country's competitiveness in travel and tourism. That competitiveness is "based on the extent to which they are putting in place the factors and policies to make it attractive to develop the travel and tourism sector."
In the overall Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, Europe was the top region with the first five positions all held by European countries. Switzerland, Germany and Austria were the top three in that order. Switzerland has headed the ranking since the index began five years ago.
Excellent tourism infrastructure and facilities, business travel appeal, sustainable development of natural resources and rich cultural resources were among the key factors in landing the highest positions in the rankings.
Safety/security, underdeveloped infrastructure and concerns about sustainable development were among the factors bringing down countries' competitiveness.
Haiti scored the lowest on the competitiveness index.
The United States (6th) topped the combined Americas, Singapore (10th) just pushed out Australia and New Zealand to lead the Asia Pacific region, the United Arab Emirates (28th) was the highest performer in the Middle East and the Seychelles (38th) overtook Mauritius to head Africa.
The report emphasized the need for continued development in the travel and tourism sector particularly for its role in job creation in a relatively stagnant global economy. The industry currently accounts for one in 11 jobs in the world.
The report used data compiled from the World Economic Forum's Executive Opinion Survey and hard data from private sources and national and international agencies and organizations such as the ICAO, IATA, UNWTO, World Bank/International Finance Corporation, IUCN, WHO and UNESCO.
Attitude of population toward foreign visitors
(1 = very unwelcome; 7 = very welcome)
Friendliest
1. Iceland 6.8
2. New Zealand 6.8
3. Morocco 6.7
4. Macedonia, FYR 6.7
5. Austria 6.7
6. Senegal 6.7
7. Portugal 6.6
8. Bosnia and Herzegovina 6.6
9. Ireland 6.6
10. Burkina Faso 6.6
Unfriendliest
1. Bolivia 4.1
2. Venezuela 4.5
3. Russian Federation 5.0
4. Kuwait 5.2
5. Latvia 5.2
6. Iran 5.2
7. Pakistan 5.3
8. Slovak Republic 5.5
9. Bulgaria 5.5
10. Mongolia 5.5
A new report, put out earlier this month by the World Economic Forum, has ranked which countries roll out the welcome mat to travelers and which give the cold shoulder.
The "Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013" ranked 140 countries according to attractiveness and competitiveness in the travel and tourism industries.
Unwelcoming
Among the extensive analyses, one of the most interesting rankings was how welcome tourists are in each country, under the category "Attitude of population toward foreign visitors."
And the world's most unfriendly country, according to the data?
Bolivia took the dubious honor, scoring a 4.1 out of seven on a scale of "very unwelcome" (0) to "very welcome" (7).
Venezuela and the Russian Federation were next.
Interestingly, despite their huge tourist arrivals, South Korea and China tied with four other countries for the eighth least friendly spot.
At the other end of the scale, Iceland and New Zealand were ranked the world's most welcoming nations for visitors.
You can see a top 10 for friendliest and unfriendliest at the bottom of this article.
Strengths and weaknesses
The "friendly" ranking was just one aspect of the report, analyzing each country's competitiveness in travel and tourism. That competitiveness is "based on the extent to which they are putting in place the factors and policies to make it attractive to develop the travel and tourism sector."
In the overall Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, Europe was the top region with the first five positions all held by European countries. Switzerland, Germany and Austria were the top three in that order. Switzerland has headed the ranking since the index began five years ago.
Excellent tourism infrastructure and facilities, business travel appeal, sustainable development of natural resources and rich cultural resources were among the key factors in landing the highest positions in the rankings.
Safety/security, underdeveloped infrastructure and concerns about sustainable development were among the factors bringing down countries' competitiveness.
Haiti scored the lowest on the competitiveness index.
The United States (6th) topped the combined Americas, Singapore (10th) just pushed out Australia and New Zealand to lead the Asia Pacific region, the United Arab Emirates (28th) was the highest performer in the Middle East and the Seychelles (38th) overtook Mauritius to head Africa.
The report emphasized the need for continued development in the travel and tourism sector particularly for its role in job creation in a relatively stagnant global economy. The industry currently accounts for one in 11 jobs in the world.
The report used data compiled from the World Economic Forum's Executive Opinion Survey and hard data from private sources and national and international agencies and organizations such as the ICAO, IATA, UNWTO, World Bank/International Finance Corporation, IUCN, WHO and UNESCO.
Attitude of population toward foreign visitors
(1 = very unwelcome; 7 = very welcome)
Friendliest
1. Iceland 6.8
2. New Zealand 6.8
3. Morocco 6.7
4. Macedonia, FYR 6.7
5. Austria 6.7
6. Senegal 6.7
7. Portugal 6.6
8. Bosnia and Herzegovina 6.6
9. Ireland 6.6
10. Burkina Faso 6.6
Unfriendliest
1. Bolivia 4.1
2. Venezuela 4.5
3. Russian Federation 5.0
4. Kuwait 5.2
5. Latvia 5.2
6. Iran 5.2
7. Pakistan 5.3
8. Slovak Republic 5.5
9. Bulgaria 5.5
10. Mongolia 5.5
Friday, 11 September 2015
More Refugees Will Invade Europe If Wars Don't Stop
The news comes as foreign ministers from four Central European nations are meeting in Prague on Friday, amid a growing rift over the refugee crisis.
The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia reject quotas proposed by the EU Commission, which proposed 120,000 additional asylum seekers per year to be shared out between 28 member states.
"We too will need some kind of physical defence to reduce illegal border crossing. Either soldiers or a fence or a combination of the two," Poposki was quoted as saying in an interview with Hungarian business weekly Figyelo on Thursday.
He said his country was currently forced to let the 3,000 to 4,000 migrants who arrive in his country on a daily basis continue their journey to Serbia and Hungary unimpeded.
"There is no European consensus on how we can handle this question," he said.
As of 0600 GMT on Friday, an estimated 7,600 refugees had already crossed into Macedonia from Greece in a 24-hour period, according to the UN refugee agency.
Peter Salama, UNICEF's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said millions of people in Syria could become refugees and head to Europe if there is no end to the war.
Refugees from the border between Greece and Macedonia on Friday, said the situation has settled down after tensions.
At the border crossing station, from where our correspondent was reporting, about 1,500 had crossed on Friday morning. They are reportedly being organised into groups of 50 people.
From there, public transportation will then take them to the border with Serbia, our correspondent said.
But overnight, the situation was tense, with "impatient" refugees facing off with the police.
"Macedonian border police had blocked their path and frustrations grew once more," she said. "This is not the first time for the Macedonian border guards to use force."
Syrian refugees Bassem, his wife Marwa, and their child Ali, were among those in the crowd. They left Syria 25 days ago, entering Greece through the island of Rhodes.
Bassem and Marwa said that they feared Ali would not make the Mediterranean crossing.
"We know it's going to be difficult here, we know some don't want us, but it's still much better than Syria," Bassem said.
Along with neighbouring Serbia, Macedonia has become a major transit country for tens of thousands of refugees who trudge up from Greece, after risking their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea crammed into makeshift boats.
The majority are heading for Germany, which has pledged to welcome hundreds of thousands more refugees having already taken in 450,000 to date since January.
So far, more than 160,000 have already crossed through Macedonia on their way to Serbia and Hungary this year.
Last month, the small Balkan nation declared a state of emergency as it struggled to cope with the relentless stream of people.
Reports overnight said that Hungary's government is considering declaring a state of emergency within the next week.
Hungary completed a razor-wire barrier along its 175km border with Serbia in late August, but it has failed to stop distraught refugees from scaling the barrier.
The central European nation is building another fence four metres high that it aims to complete by late October or early November, and the government has said it will be manned by the military.
Some 85 percent of those hoping to eventually reach wealthy EU nations such as Germany or Sweden are not merely in search of a better life, but have been forced to leave because of wars in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, according to the UN's refugee agency.
Hungary to deploy army to stop refugees from crossing border, so the Hungarian government announced.
On Friday, the wife of an Austrian politician said Hungarian police have been feeding refugees "like animals in a pen" inside a border camp.
Michaela Spritzendorfer filmed the footage of the refugees surging forward against the fences surrounding them as officers toss food packets to them.
It reportedly happened at a makeshift camp in the Hungarian town of Rozke.The incident was filmed on the same day the UN commissioner on refugees said conditions were getting worse there.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama has ordered his administration to increase the number of Syrian refugees allowed into the country.
The United States has taken in just 1,500 Syrians since the civil war began in 2011.
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