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%.

Taking into account the growth of Russian and European tourist flows to Antalya, Turkish experts specified the forecast for the number of tourists in 2018. According to the administration of Antalya, in June the resort updated its historic record for foreign tourist traffic, exceeding the most successful for Turkish tourism 2014.

The number of flights from Moscow to the resorts of Turkey will grow substantially in the near future. This was reported to the correspondents by representatives of tour operators. For example, according to the Sales Director of NTK Intourist Sergey Tolchin, from June 10 the flight program of the tour operator and Turkish Airlines will increase up to 10 flights per week (A320 airplanes with 180 seats).

“According to the plans of the company, the total number of tourists which Anex Tour plans to serve in Turkey in 2018 will reach 1.6 million”, - said Tatyana Grishina the Head of the sales department of Anex Tour company.

60% more tourists from Russia arrived in Antalya in January-April 2018 in comparison with the same period of the record 2017 and 44% more than in the same period of 2014, which is still considered as the best year for Antalya. According to the Department of Culture and Tourism of Antalya, during the first 4 months the resort hosted 1.23 million foreign tourists, which is 43.8% more than in the same period of 2017.

Even in the low season Russia was in the TOP 5 of Turkey's key incoming markets, significantly surpassing the record of 2017. According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey, in January-March 2018 the country was visited by 5.12 million foreign tourists, which is 35% over the same period in 2017.

“Turkish Airlines started direct flights from Istanbul to Krasnodar airport”, - reported the press service of the Russian airport. "The flight Istanbul - Krasnodar - Istanbul was launched on May 17, the flights are carried out five times a week", - said the airport representative. The flights are performed by A319 airplane with a capacity of 132 passengers on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Departure time from Istanbul is 1:10, arrival to Krasnodar at 3:05. From Krasnodar, the plane will depart at 4:30 and arrive in Istanbul at 6:35. As previously reported the scheduled flights to Istanbul from Krasnodar airport are currently performed by Pegas and Atlas Global airlines.

In 2017 Flydubai airline has increased passenger traffic on Russian routes by half in comparison with 2016. This year the company plans to maintain its positions at least. "In 2018 the situation depends on the exchange rate and the economy situation as a whole. We expect that at least the traffic will be as last year and possibly higher", - said the Senior Vice President of Flydubai Jeyhun Efendi. He noted that last year the airline increased the number of flights to Russian cities by 2.5 times. At the moment flights are performed to 11 airports in Russia including two Moscow airports - Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo.

“97,400 Russians visited Turkey in March, which is 66% more than in the same period a year earlier”, - according to the statistics of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the country. In total in March Turkey hosted 2.1 million foreign visitors - 35% more than in March 2017.

“The tour operators note a multifold increase of demand of Russian tourists for Turkey's resorts in comparison with 2017”, - reported the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) on Monday. "The demand for Turkey in the summer season of 2018 is very high, and in Moscow, and in St. Petersburg, and in cities such as Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Rostov, Samara, Krasnodar", - stressed the representative of NTK Intourist tour operator.

Representatives of the largest hotels in Turkey note the significant growth of the tourist flow from Russia and Europe. Many hotels have already stopped sales for Europeans to leave places for Russian tourists in the upcoming summer season. "We already stop-sale in our hotels for Europeans - we keep places for Russian tourists.

“Turkish airlines Atlasglobal and Onur Air have started flights to Antalya from Belgorod International Airport”, - the airport press service reported. The first Atlasglobal flight took place on April 26. The flight program is scheduled for the period until October 15, 2018. From Belgorod Atlasglobal flies four times a week: on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. The flights are performed by A321 with 216 seats. The first flight of Onur Air to Antalya from Belgorod took place on April 28. The flight program (from three to six departures a week) is planned until October 14. The flights will be performed by A321.

In Turkey the main planned figures for arrivals from two key markets were recently announced: 6 million tourists - from Russia and more than 5 million - from Germany. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu also has predicted the figures, being in Antalya. According to him, this year the country will achieve the results of 2014 - the most successful year in its tourist history and will host about 38 million tourists.

Another major tour operator declared about increasing of regional transportation to several Turkish resorts. The management of Coral Travel tour operator reported that in the upcoming season there will be flights from 45 Russian cities to Antalya (+4 against the previous season), to Dalaman - from 10 cities (+3), to Alanya - from 6 cities (+ 2).