BY FEHMI KOFTEOGLU
The pandemic changed a lot of things in tourism, and it will continue to do so. These changes are seen in both source markets and destinations. Two source markets Germany and the UK – lead the European market, which remains the global travel sector’s center.
Spain and Turkey are the two engines for travel in the Mediterranean littoral, the leading destinations in terms of receiving the highest number of tourists. The two source markets, Germany and the UK, send the highest number of tourists to Turkey and Spain.
For years before the pandemic, the UK was Spain’s primary source market for tourists. But this changed during the pandemic. The UK fell to 3rd place while France, which was in 3rd place in the pre-pandemic period, rose to first.
The Russian- German race in Turkish tourism, which began before the pandemic, continues, with Russia replacing Germany.
Before the pandemic, two destinations – Turkey and Spain – received the highest number of visitors from two source markets, Germany and the UK, and these numbers were incomparably high. This was one of the things that the pandemic changed in tourism.
Spain ranks first in the German market with a 22.9% share. Turkey’s share in Germany stands at 22.3%. The number of German tourists visiting Spain during the first five months of the pre-pandemic year was around 1.3 million; it declined to 707,000 during the same period of this year. The number of British tourists visiting Spain decreased to 555,000 from two million during the same period.
The number of visitors from the UK, which ranks first as Spain’s source markets, decreased by 119,000, while the loss of Spain exceeded 1.5 million.
Meanwhile, for the first time in the history of tourism, Turkey received more visitors than Spain, albeit due to the pandemic. This is a success. But it should not be forgotten that while Turkey’s tourism income per capita is around USD 670-700, Spain’s is USD 1100.
Therefore, during the process of change, which has accelerated because of the pandemic, realistic plans should be made instead of fuzzy targets focusing on the success shown in the number of visitors to tourism income.
More vistors, less income
In terms of the number of visitors it received, Turkey broke new ground and surpassed Spain. But the same thing did not happen in tourism income.
The number of foreign tourists visiting Turkey reached 10 million between January and July of this year. This number stood at 5.4 million in the same period of 2020. So, the number of visitors increased by 85%.
During the same period, the number of tourists visiting Spain decreased by 28.8% to 9.8 million. But things differ in terms of tourism income. Mehmet Ersoy, Minister of Culture and Tourism, insists that the 25 million tourists and USD 20bn tourism income targets remain but the numbers announced by the Central Bank show that it’s going to be challenging to reach these goals.
Meanwhile, Turkey generated USD 680 in tourism income per capita from foreign visitors. Spain’s tourism income per capita, however, is over USD 1,100.
Spain poised to challenge Turkey in Russian market
Russia decided to continue with flights to four new countries as part of the COVID -19 measures. It was announced that as of September 21, Spain, Iraq, Kenya and Slovakia will be added to the “white list” and reciprocal flights will begin from Russia, according to a statement on the government website.
Flights between Moscow and Madrid, as well as between Moscow and Barcelona, will operate 4 times a week. In addition, passenger planes will fly from Moscow to Malaga and Alicante twice a week.
In the meantime, flights to Turkey will start from 4 more cities in Russia. It has been announced that as of September 21, flights to Turkey and Egypt will resume from the international airports of the Russian cities of Pskov, Magadan, Murmansk and Chita.
Oti’s German arm lunges forward
Oti Holding’s German tour operator Ferien Touristik/Coral Travel has begun to take steps as part of 2022 preparations. Ferier/Coral German travel agency employees will be taken on an information tour to Turkey, Spain, Greece and Egypt. The first of the info trips will be to the Greek island of Crete, followed by Spain’s Fuerteventura Island, Egypt’s Hurghada, and finally to Turkey’s Aegean Region. The Turkey Aegean Region info tour, where Ferien/ Coral will bring the employees of German travel agencies, will be held on October 14-18, 2021.