One of the top four tourism exhibitions in the world, East Mediterranean International Tourism and Travel Exhibition – EMITT is set to bring together international tourism professionals and holiday consumers for the 23rd time in Istanbul between January 31 – February 3, 2019.
Organized by EUF – E Uluslararası Fuarcılık, a subsidiary of ITE Turkey, EMITT will be held at TUYAP Fair Convention and Congress Center.
Organized in cooperation with Travel Shop Turkey every year, hosted buyer (invited tour operator) programme will host nearly 900 tour operators from more than 100 countries including Asia, Europe, Far East and Latin America.
Stating that there is a parallelism between the national tourism and EMITT, ITE Turkey Tourism & Travel & Fashion Group Director Hacer Aydın said, “We had the opportunity to clearly see the relationship between the growth in the national tourism and EMITT once again in January 2018. In the EMITT organized for the 22nd time in January 2018, we achieved a phenomenal success by hosting 1,065 exhibitors from 85 countries and 54,364 visitors in EMITT. The mobility observed in the tourism sector in 2017 manifested itself in EMITT and we recorded 55% growth in terms of number of exhibitors in our last exhibition. This growth was a precursor of a rapid rise in the tourism sector in 2018 and we witnessed that the sector has achieved a rapid growth.”
Aydın said, “The Ministry of Tourism data also supports this. The number of international visitors coming to Turkey reached 21.64 million people with a rise by 24.9 percent in seven months. Besides, a significant increase is observed in terms of revenue. According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, tourism revenues reached $11.5 billion with a rise by 31 percent in the first half of the year. There is a significant increase of 36.9 percent ($9.28 billion) in terms of revenue obtained from international tourists. In other words, more than 80 percent of our tourism revenues came from foreign tourists in the first half of the year. In consideration of these data, we can say that our country is again a brand destination for international tourists. Not to mention the fact that tourists are spending more than ever. Considering these positive figures, we think it is time for publicity for enterprises and destinations. As EMITT, Turkey’s leading travel and tourism exhibition, we continue to offer unique opportunities to access this growing market.”
Pointing out that EMITT is one of the biggest meeting points for the tourism industry of not only Turkey but also the whole world, Aydın said, “Although the exhibition will open its doors more than four months from now, we managed to increase the number of exhibitors by 45% compared to last year. Besides, Indonesia, Malta, Austria and Thailand will participate as exhibitors for the first time this year. We continue our tradition of bringing together the tourism sector representatives and tourism professionals from all over the world this year. In this context, we are organizing the Hosted Buyer (invited tour operator) Programme. Within the scope of the programme, we will host nearly 900 tour operators from more than 100 countries. In January 2018, we broke a world record with more than 7,000 approved appointments. We aim to top this number with our programme, which lead to new investments and new partnerships. Companies from Asia, Europe, Far East and Latin America show great interest in EMITT and apply to our programme.”
Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkish Republic, Governorship of İstanbul, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Turkish Airlines, and organized with support from KOSGEB and in association with Turkish Hoteliers Federation (TUROFED) and Turkish Tourism Investors Association (TYD) the exhibition continues to attract exhibitors from all over the world.
