EMITT tourism exhibition hosted 44.321 visitors this year

Thursday, February 20, 2020

The goals of increasing income per tourist and strengthening local tourism assets in 2020 and beyond were the highlights of the 24th EMITT – East Mediterranean International Tourism and Travel Exhibition, which was opened with the participation of the Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey Mehmet Nuri Ersoy. 24th EMITT Tourism Exhibition was held under the corporate sponsorship of T.R. Ministry of Culture and Tourism, T.R. Governorship of İstanbul, İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality, and Turkish Airlines together with the support of Small and Medium Industry Development Organization (KOSGEB) and business partnership of Turkish Hoteliers Federation (TÜROFED), and Turkish Tourism Investors Association (TTYD) between January 30 – February 2 at TÜYAP Fair, Convention, and Congress Center. As one of the top four tourism exhibitions in the world, 24thEMITT Tourism Exhibition hosted more than 44 thousand visitors and around 1000 exhibitors from 103 countries. As well as bringing together 200 hosted buyersfrom 20 countries with exhibitors and visitors, the exhibition also hosted 4,476 appointed business meetings.

Tourism, Travel and Fashion Group Director of Hyve Group,Hacer Aydın stated that she believed that the dynamism which was present at the EMITT Tourism Exhibition, where the world’s top tourist attractions and the destinations in Turkey which became or on their way to becoming city brands are showcased, will contribute to the risingtourism targets of Turkey.  Aydın continued her words as follows: “By discussing the global and local dynamics of the tourism industry with exhibitors from all over the world, hosted buyers, and experts in the industry, we have identified our predictions for 2020 and beyond in terms of the tourism industry. We argued aboutthe role of technology and digitalization in tourism promotion and marketing. As the stakeholders of the industry, we had the opportunity to evaluate how we can contribute to the target of achieving that there 58 million foreign tourists and $40 billion tourism revenues set by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in this year. In this respect, EMITT has been a stimulating and productive event for our country’s tourism industry.

Increased Business Volume of EMITT Shows the Confidence in the Turkish Economy

Pointing out that EMITT has made a significant contribution to the hotel occupancy rates and airline revenues in İstanbul and underlining the added value it provides to the Turkish and İstanbul’s economy, Hacer Aydın said that the current position of EMITT and the amount of interest it attracts from the world indicates the confidence in the Turkish economy at a global scale and shows that the tourism industry has entered a growth trend.  Aydın continued her words as follows that there isa  huge interest in their exhibition is one of the most important indicators of the positive growth expected in the tourism revenues of our country and the number of tourist arrivals for 2020. At the 24th EMITT Tourism Exhibition, we brought together important assets and brands in our country’s tourism industry with 200 hosted buyers from 20 countries. In 2019, tourism revenues reached a volume that can close the current account deficit alone. Therefore, both with our foreign visitors and hosted buyers we hosted in EMITT and İstanbul, and 4,476 appointed business meetings that we prepared the ground for, we have seen the significance of EMITT for İstanbul and Turkey and strategic importance of the tourism industry in our country once again. After the end of our Exhibition, I think we can say that 2020 will be a year that we will work and achieve more.

In addition to increasing the trade volume, EMITT has also turned into information, inspiration, and networking platform for exhibitors and visitors with its comprehensive conference and events program.In EMITT, which has been serving the industry for 24 years and striving to further expand the industry, tourism economy, trends that lead the industry, stand-out destination,  and technological innovations that will leave a mark on the next decade were on the agenda under 5 main themes: FORUM, FUTURE, 4.0, FOCUS, EXPERIENCE.

Increasing revenue per-tourist income is the common goal

In 10 industry-related sessions held at the Exhibition, 45 expert speakers delivered speeches and enlightened tourism professionals. As in the previous years, Presidents’ Forum attracted great attention. The session titled “President’s Forum: Opinion Leaders Announce Their Predictions for Tourismin 2020! “which brought together the opinion leaders within the industry and moderated byBahattinYücel, the Minister of Tourism of the 54th government of Republic of Turkey, was held with the participation of the Vice President of TÜRSABAli Bilir, President of TTYDOyaNarin, and Chairman of TÜROFED SururiÇorabatır. In the session in which the importance of EMITT was emphasizedthe things that needs be done to increase revenue per industry and tourist were thoroughly discussed.

Stating that in terms of the investments, Turkey’s fast recovery from the crisis it experienced and return to the growth trend is a very positive improvement, President of TTYD Oyan Narin said thatTurkey’s speed recovery from the crisis attracts the attention of international investors. Narin added that 2020 will be a year in which Turkey will be integrated into world tourism. Underlining the importance of increasing revenue per tourist, TÜRSAB Vice President of TÜRSAB, Ali Bilir stated that it is very important to spread tourism to 12 months and leave the concept of the all-inclusive system. Chairman of the Board at TÜROFED, SururiÇorabatır also pointed out that the tourism industry has seen a growth of around 17% in 2019 and revenue per country would increase by further diversifying the tourism types.

A New Marketing Approach in Tourism Industry Through VR

As well as the sessions in which the direction of the tourism industry in Turkey and in the world were discussed in detail, new approaches in tourism marketing were also presented to the tourism professionals.

With 5 special VR experiences, exhibitors and visitors met the future technologies in tourism marketing. VR experiences such as Virtual Mona Lisa Exhibition, Göbeklitepe, and Everest drew a great deal of interest among the visitors throughout the exhibition. In the VR Experience Area, hundreds of visitors had the opportunity to visit and observe the destinations they were unable to see before in detail with VR glasses and obtained information about these destinations. With over 50 exhibitor companies and 12 event partners, 24th EMITT presented a dynamic and exciting exhibition environment.

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• EMITT will be held from 12-15 April this year

• EMITT 2022 will open on February 9

• EMITT re-scheduled its dates to February 9-12, 2022

• EMITT postponed to 2022

• Health Tourism Sector worth $35 billion is preparing to take part in EMITT