The demand for tours to Tunisia has noticeably activated this year. The rate of early booking is 20% higher than last year. The increase mainly occurs due to the redistribution of tourists from the more expensive Turkish destination. 

Russia remains a leader of incoming tourism in Turkey. Autumn shows amazing results. Over the first 10 months, more than 5.7 million of Russian tourists visited Turkey, which is 16% of the total foreign tourist flow to Turkey. The Ministry of Tourism and Culture of Turkey announced data on foreign arrivals for 10 months of 2018.

According to the official results of 11 months of 2018, Russia remains the market number one for inbound tourism in Turkey, and Turkey itself is the main outgoing market for Russian abroad tourism. But, the most interesting thing is the colossal increase in tourist traffic from Russia in November.

Every third tourist at the main Turkish resort of Antalya this year is from Russia. The results of the season in Antalya are called historical, but in tourism a record tourist flow did not lead to an increase in income. Antalya Municipality has summed up the results of inbound tourism for 11 months of 2018.

Turkish hoteliers, following the results of 2019, plan to increase the volume of Russian tourist traffic, which this year reached about 5 million people (+15%). According to experts, to achieve such ambitious results, hoteliers will not significantly increase prices, but, on the contrary, will show maximum flexibility.

The increase in prices for trips to Turkey was caused by the demand not only on the Russian market, but also on the European one. In the summer 2019, the cost of a tour to the resort can grow by 30–50%, comparing with the prices for 2018. “With a probability of 95%, Turkey will reconsider prices for the summer 2019.

At the moment, sales of Turkey are already opened by a number of major players. However, experts note that this year the early booking of tours to this country is not as active as in the past. TEZ Tour operator is one of the first to launch the sale of tours in Turkey for the summer season. The action of early booking will last until March 2019.

The cost for rest in Turkey for the next summer season is 20–30% higher than last year. This was reported by travel agencies. According to the retail networks, nowadays the average price for tours in Turkey for March 2019 is 117 thousand Rubles (1,547 Euros), which is 36 thousand Rubles (476 Euros) more than for the same dates of the previous winter.

Russian tourists helped Antalya to update the historical maximum in the number of foreign arrivals. In the first 10 months of 2018, 12.5 million of foreign travelers visited the resort, 37% of them are the Russians. According to statistics of two airports of the region - Antalya International Airport and Gazipasha Airport – 12,53 million of foreign tourists arrived in Antalya from January to October (+ 28% compared to the same period of 2017).

The flight program to Turkey for 2018 is described according to ther plans of the tour operators: Coral travel, Anex tour, Intourist, Pegas touristik and Tui Russia.

In the beginning of the winter season, Coral Travel will offer tourists more programs in Turkey and new resorts in this country. The winter Turkey of Coral Travel will grow mainly due to the programs in Antalya and Alanya. The tour operator launches the winter program to Alanya (Gazipasa airport) for the first time.

Already in the first 9 months of 2018, 4.13 million tourist arrivals from Russia were recorded at the Turkish resort, which already exceeded all the record annual figures of previous years. Up to now, Antalya has not yet taken more than 4 million tourists from one country even for a year.

The seasonal discounts for accommodation - up to 50% - and the good weather provide Turkey to be in the top demand in autumn season. A number of companies note that the demand for October is several times higher than last year. However, the direction is actively booked not only for October, but also for the November holidays.

The airport of Turkish resort of Alanya in the province of Antalya expects to host almost 250,000 Russian passengers by the end of 2018. And for the first time tour operators are extending the charter programs to Alanya for the winter season. "Gazipasha-Alanya Airport hosted the first flight from Russia in April 2017 and since that time has serviced almost 221.8 thousand Russian passengers.

ANEX Tour operator will transfer payments to Turkish partners in Euros. This was announced on Monday, October 1, by Yana Muromova, the deputy general director of the company. “Turkish hoteliers work with all markets in Euros. And for the Russian partners recalculate prices in dollars and at an unprofitable rate.

The cost of tours to Turkey in September - early October was significantly higher than in the same period of the last year, but the volume of sales is stable. According to the Director of the development of RossTour’s network Maria Slugina, high prices will last until the end of October.

Turkey promises to invest more money in the promotion of its tourism product. And as part of the transition to "quality tourism", regular transportation from foreign markets will receive marketing support. Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Ersoi told about the future of Turkish tourism at the meeting with representatives of Ankara newspapers and TV channels.

During the period from January to August 2018 almost 9.2 million foreign tourists have already visited Antalya, which is 87% of the total tourist traffic for the whole 2017 year. The Russian market remains the leader of the incoming tourism in Antalya: it accounts 38.45% of the total foreign tourist flow.

This year there is a significant increase of the volume of bookings of tours to Turkish ski resorts. Experts believe, that the main factor of growth is charter transportation and a good price-quality ratio among tourist products, especially important in the current difficult economic conditions.

“The tourist flow from Russia to Turkey increased by 40.5% from January to June in comparison with the same period of the last year, the country was visited by 2.378 million Russians”, - according to the statistics of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey. In total, Turkey for six months has hosted 16 million foreign tourists, which is 30.4% more than for the same period a year earlier.

“1.9 million Russians have visited Antalya since the beginning of the year, which is almost 40% more than in the same period of the last year”, - Hürriyet newspaper reports. "The tourist flow from Russia reached record level, it is 40.1% of the total number of travelers since the beginning of 2018. 1.9 million Russians came to the resort, which is 38.5% more in comparison with the same period of the last year.

“Tour operators note an increase of sales of tours to Turkey after the World Cup 2018, the demand for them this summer is already 72% higher than for the same period of the last year”, - informed the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR). "The demand will reach the highest point in the second part of the season, because during World Cup 2018 many Russians were engaged in business related to the "football fever" and some who wanted to watch football at home bought tour packages for the period after WC", - reported the Association.

“Tour operators note the high demand of Russians for trips to Turkey despite the end of early booking program and rise of prices”, - reported Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR). "Demand for Turkish direction is very high, sales volumes from leading tour operators are at least twice higher than at last year. It connects with attractive prices for tours during the early booking period.

The Russian tourist flow to the resorts of Turkish Antalya this year can update its records. As the statistics of arrivals to the airports of Antalya show, for the first five months the number of Russians and, in general, foreign tourists in Antalya has increased by almost 50%.