According to seatrade-insider.com, in 2011 Turkey was able to attract in total 2.5 million cruise passengers to its ports. And the Turks themselves were also active consumers of the cruise product. It is expected that in 2012 the number of customers from Turkey will grow by 30% compared to the last year and will reach 65 thousand people.
Izmir, the city, which hosted the forum, is one of the brightest representatives of maritime tourism in Turkey. It is considered as the third most important port of the country, and its administration expects to enter the top 50 cruise destinations of the world in the near future. Soon the port will be privatized and modernized. By 2015 its capacity will be increased to 2 million people a year.
While such large-scale projects are waiting for realization, Turkey publishes the latest figures, which are still quite modest. In the first six months of 2012 the ports of Turkey were visited by 300 ships with 355 thousand passengers. According to the forecasts, the number of visits will increase by at least 9% in 2013. In any case, such figure is mentioned by the representatives of the Costa cruise company, which is one of the major operators in the Turkish ports.
During the forum a number of companies such as Louis Cruises, Silversea Cruises and Pullmantur, which now operates cruises in the Black and Mediterranean Seas, expressed their suggestions and concerns about the development of Turkish cruise industry. Silversea Cruises noted the enormous potential of the country in terms of educational and cultural tours.
Representatives of the Louis Cruises company noted the high level of decision-making process in the industry, which differs favorably with it low bureaucracy level from other countries. Pullmantur noted the high level of service and favorable Turkish prices, as well as advised to actively develop the logistics to offer cruise passengers the maximum number directions.
Forum in Izmir was a milestone event for the industry for at least another one reason. Here it was announced about the creation of association of the Turkish cruise ports. All leading ports of the country such as Alania, Bandirma, Canakkale, Cesme, Fethiye, Istanbul, Izmir, Marmaris Mersin, Rize, Samsun and Trabzon expressed its desire to enter the organization.
Ilya Kalachev
Date: 15/07/2012
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