Turkish officials aim to boost tourism

Officials in a Turkish tourist hotspot have revealed that they want to boost visitor numbers even further, a media outlet has reported.

According to the Turkish Daily News, about eight million foreign leisure travellers visited Antalya in 2007.

However, Antalya governor Alaadin Yuksel has expressed his desire to attract more holidaymakers this year, as it is proving to be very good for the economy.

Speaking to the newspaper, he revealed that the city benefited from more than £3 billion in revenues from the tourism sector last year.

Mr Yuksel said the figure could be even higher if it achieves its aim of bringing in ten million people to Turkey during 2008.

This money could then be ploughed back into the local area in order to further enhance its desirablility.

He commented: "We want visitors who come here to leave with very good impressions - we want them to come back here many more times."

The Turkish government is currently aiming to increase the annual number of foreign arrivals from 23 million to 50 million in the next 15 years.

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