DOHA: Qatari travellers to Turkey have increased by 85.7 percent in the first five months of this year, according to the Turkish Consulate General Cultural and Information office for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
Latest data released by the Turkish Consulate General Cultural and Information office for GCC has revealed that some 28,775 Qatari travellers landed in Turkey’s international airports from January 1 to May 30 of this year.
This comes a few weeks after Qatar Airways added flights direct to Bodrum and Antalya from Doha, making Antalya Qatar Airways’ seventh destination in Turkey. The number of Qatar Airways flights to Turkish cities has reached 48, including Ankara, Adana, Hatay and two airports in Istanbul.
In 2016, some 14,028 travellers from Qatar visited Turkey, a number that grew to 15,499 travellers in 2017. These growing numbers of visitors further reinforce the strong historic ties between Qatar and Turkey and both countries have expressed their intentions to encourage two-way travel, trade, tourism and investment opportunities.
“Turkey continues to be an attractive destination for Qatari business people, holiday makers and those seeking medical services due to our strong cultural ties together,” said Salah Ozer, Turkey’s Attaché of Culture and Information.
“The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) recently named Turkey as the world’s sixth most visited country in 2017, welcoming 39.9 million tourists. Such achievements and accolades will help in growing the number of tourists traveling to Turkey in 2018,” he added.
The bilateral trade volume and economic cooperation between Qatar and Turkey have witnessed an unparalleled growth over the last couple of years, especially after the unjust economic blockade imposed on Qatar by siege countries in June last year.
Turkey, which has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, is one of Qatar’s closest strategic allies and most trusted trading partners. The bilateral trade volume reached QR4.73bn ($1.5bn) in 2017.
Currently, more than 300 Turkish companies are operating in Qatar, 26 of which operate with 100 percent Turkish capital. The combined value of projects handled by Turkish companies in Qatar stood at about QR42.24bn.
