Turkey becomes popular destination for Arab tourists

As Turkey's regional role rises in North Africa and Middle East, its tourism sector was boosted by a surge of Arab tourists. In the meantime, Turkey's strained bilateral relations with once ally Israel led to a sharp decrease of Israeli travellers. The number of Israeli tourists visiting Turkey fell dramatically due to chilly ties between the two countries since 2009, following an Israeli raid on Gaza bound Turkish ship "Mavi Marmara", which killed nine Turks. About 61,950 Israeli citizens visited Turkey from January to August in 2011, a 27 percent decrease compared to the same period in 2010. The number of Israeli visitors was 558,000 before the " Mavi Marmara" crisis in 2008, then dropped to about 300,000 in 2009, and further dropped to 110,000 in 2010. "Israelis boycott Turkey and don't want to travel," an official from Turkish Tourism Ministry told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Israelis who travel to Turkey are mainly businessmen and Arabs living in Israel, the official said, adding that some extra charter flights to Turkey's southwestern city of Antalya were launched during the period of Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice), one of the most important feasts on the Muslim calendar. The long-simmering crisis between Israel and Turkey flared up again last summer when Israel rejected to apologize to victims of the Gaza-bound flotillas, a precondition of Turkey for normalization of bilateral ties. Some 40 Israeli passengers were held up on arrival at Istanbul Airport for security reasons in September, just after political tension increased between the two states. The Mavi Marmara incident destroyed bilateral tourism, but holding up Israeli passengers at the airport "was the end," Koray Turan with Belmando Travel Agency told Dogan News Agency in September. Meanwhile, nearly 1.4 million tourists from Arab countries visited Turkey from January to August 2011, a dramatic increase compared to 1.2 million in 2010, and 912,000 in 2009. Arab tourists showed interest in Turkey shortly after the ruling Islamic-rooted government led by Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002. The number of Arab travellers, especially from Gulf countries, were boosted with an increase of nearly 62 percent, as Ankara mutually lifted visa requirements with several countries in the Middle East such as Lebanon and Jordan since 2008. Istanbul and Black Sea coast became popular destinations for Arab tourists since then. Turkey's rapprochement with Arab countries has played a crucial role in its growing popularity with Arab tourists. Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's verbal confrontations with Israel, particularly on the Palestinian issue, have gained support from Arab people in the region.