JEDDAH: With Saudi-Turkish bilateral trade continuing to expand, Turkey is now seeking more Saudi families to spend their vacation at its varied and popular tourist destinations.
A delegation from the Turkish tourist industry comprising hotels and travel agents held a workshop with their Saudi counterparts at the Sheraton Villa on Sunday night, hoping to receive 100,000 Saudi tourists to Turkey this year.
“This the first time that a Turkish tourism delegation is visiting the Kingdom,” Salih Ozer, counselor of culture and information at the Turkish Embassy, said. Turkey had 40,000 tourists from the Kingdom in 2007 and 60,000 in 2008. “We hope to get more than 100,000 of them this year,” he said.
More than 26 million tourists visited Turkey from all over the world last year. Turkey’s tourism revenue was $21 billion last year, which was 2.4 percent of the GDP, he said.
Ozer said Turkish contracting companies were engaged in $1 billion worth of projects in the Kingdom this year. “Over the years, they have done $6.5 billion worth of business projects across the Kingdom.”
According to Ozer, the bilateral trade volume is worth $5.5 billion. With Turkish exports to Saudi Arabia totaling $2.2 billion and its imports from the Kingdom worth $3.3 billion, the balance remains in favor of Saudi Arabia.
Turkish Consul General Salih Mutlu Sen said: “We took part in the Janadriya program in Riyadh in the past two years.” Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Erturul Gunay, who was among the guests at the festival, extended an invitation to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to visit Turkey, he said, adding that a Turkish tourism office is functioning at the embassy in Riyadh.
