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At a press conference last Friday, senior members of Routes and ICF Airports’ management teams detailed the final countdown to Routes Tourism Mediterranean. The event, which brings together senior route development professionals to discuss their route development plans in one-to-one meetings and will highlight the vital interdependence of the tourism and aviation industries, will be held in Antalya, Turkey, from the 13th to the 15th of February 2011.
Nigel Mayes, VP Routes & Commercial, and Eric Layden, Advisor to SVP, Routes, were keen to emphasise the impressive range and number of confirmed delegates so far. Mayes said that “With any new event, we are cautiously optimistic in terms of the number of delegates we hope to register, however, we are delighted to see that our expectations have been exceeded! Furthermore, Routes Tourism Mediterranean has attracted a significant number of airlines and airports who have never before been to a Routes event, not least the Greek Ministry for Civil Aviation who will be representing some 30 airports, few of whom have ever attended a Routes event”.
Layden highlighted the significance of the confirmed participation of senior political figures within the tourism industry, saying “With delegates including Mr Ozgur Ozaslan, Turkey’s Deputy Undersecretary, Ministry for Tourism and Culture, Mr Amr El Ezaby, Vice Minister & Chairman, Egyptian Tourist Authority, and Greece’s Deputy Minister for Tourism, Mr George Nikitiades, it is clear that government agencies understand the importance of talking to airlines an d are able to see the high value to them of attending this event”. Each of these governments will be holding ‘Destination Briefings’ at Routes Tourism Mediterranean, which will offer the perfect opportunity for all delegates to increase their understanding of these regions and how to serve their markets profitably.
Representing ICF Airports, Alexander Laukenmann, General Manager of Antalya Airport, and Yasar Dongel, member of the Board, spoke of their desire to see the tourism industry engage actively with the aviation industry so as to promote economic development within the region, and of the benefits to the area and country that hosting Routes Tourism Mediterranean would create. Dongel emphasised the tourism potential of Antalya, saying “At ICF Airports, we are so glad to host Routes Tourism Mediterranean because it will create a great opportunity to show the tourism potential of Antalya, which has a 500,000-bed capacity and is one of the leading travel destinations in the Mediterranean.”
Laukenmann talked about what he hoped hosting the event would achieve: “Routes Tourism Mediterranean will give us the opportunity to promote Antalya and Turkey as a leading tourism destination in the Mediterranean, Europe and the world. We will use the event to give the best possible impression of Antalya to the delegates, the people who really will decide whether to bring new routes to the region. Our ultimate objective of hosting the event is to create additional traffic to Antalya, something that would benefit the whole of Turkey”.
While Tourism Authorities have played an increasingly active role at World Routes, the largest of the events run by Routes, this event is the first to focus on the tourism sector and its importance to route development.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
