As a very popular tourism destination, Alanya is energized by the opening of the season. TAV Gazipaşa Operations Coordinator Cengiz Aşıklı comments on the region's contribution to the tourism industry besides with the importance of Gazipaşa Airport for the region.

T ourism industry went through a turbulent period in 2015. Besides with the downturn of the global economic indicators, the security concerns added up to create the worst scenario for tourism. Despite the damage of all these obstacles, the tourism industry moves on with its progress. According to the reports by The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, number of total foreign visitors increased 5.55 percent and reached 8.76 million for the first five months of the year. We hear the recent developments in the industry as well as the projections about the TAV Gazipaşa Airport from Cengiz Aşıklı. Since the time Gazipaşa Airport started to operate, how would you assess its contribution for the tourism of the region and of the whole country? We, TAV Airports, created a significant impact on the region’s development by taking over the operations of Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport. In order to help the region to reach the standards it deserves with all its tourism potential, we executed collaborations with all the stakeholders, primarily with the local authority. By means of these collaborations we take firm steps forward to become the leading airport of the Mediterranean region. This region’s development is a direct contribution to the overall tourism in Turkey. Currently, Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport receives many flights from many different destinations, of numerous airline companies, domestically and internationally. We’ll carry on our efforts to support the tourism by promoting the region and increasing the number of flight destinations. What is the volume of the operations at Gazipaşa Airport? Could you comment on the whole operation? Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport currently operates on an area expanded three folds by the TAV’s investments of a 6,400 m2 new terminal building along with the addition of two stories in the parking area. As the result of these expansions, our current annual capacity reached 1.5 million passengers. Other airport services at Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport such as duty-free shops, food and beverage areas and so on are also operated by the TAV’s subsidiaries such as ATÜ, BTA, TAV IT, etc. Currently, many domestic and foreign airline companies have flights to destinations such as İstanbul, Ankara, Moscow, Copenhagen, Oslo, Billund, Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Helsinki, Vilnius, Hamburg, Bremen, Düsseldorf and Beirut from the GazipaşaAlanya Airport. 

THE EMPHASIZED ADVANTAGES OF AIRLINE TRAVELLING IN TERMS OF TIME AND CONVENIENCE SIGNAL AN INCREMENTAL GROWTH OF AIRLINE TRAFFIC IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

Gazipaşa is the second airport in the region. Why was it necessary to build it? What kind of a need does the airport address? 25 percent of the total lodging capacity in the Mediterranean basin is located in Alanya. Therefore, Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport is an important hub for the region. With regards to the convenient transportation availability, it is a preferred spot by both the domestic and foreign visitors as well as by the tour companies and the airline companies which are key actors for the market. So as to become an international hotspot, Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport is ever increasing the flight destinations. Airport operations reside in the heart of the tourism industry. In this manner, could you please make a comment on the current outlook of the airline passenger transportation? Current advantages of airline transports in terms of time and convenience signals a steady growth of the airline industry for the future. In parallel to these, airport operations will also play a crucial role. Hereby, the passengers’ satisfaction will increase as well. The tourism industry is one of the hot topics lately. How do you interpret the industry? What are your expectations and projections? Security concerns over the globe damage the tourism industry. Nevertheless, the industry is quite strong and the past experiences show that it can rapidly recuperate. In consideration with the travelling and leisure needs of people, I predict the demand will catch up and even exceed the prior levels. Since the beginning of this year, we can see the recovery and the growth. For the progress of the tourism, each actor in the industry should pursue on improving the high-quality services and the customer satisfaction while promoting the tourism destinations. How do you describe the passenger profile? Has there been a change on the international passenger traffic? In its ever growing traffic, majority of the passengers in Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport are coming from Germany, Netherlands, Scandinavian countries and Russia. Despite the decrease of passengers from Germany and Netherlands due to the recent unpleasant incidents with these countries, the total number of visitors was balanced by the passengers from other countries. When we look at the annual passenger records of Alanya Airport, there is a downturn in 2016 particularly of the foreign passengers. What are your predictions for 2017? The overall downturn of the tourism industry is also relevant for our airport. By 2017, we aimed at reaching out to new markets with the improvements and marketing efforts in Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport. We already started to get the returns. In terms of direct flights, what is the volume of GazipaşaAlanya Airport? How many direct destinations are available? Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport plays a key role in order to realize the tourism potential of the region. Hereby, I can claim that we are meeting the demands that are growing since we took the operations over. Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport has 1.5 million passenger capacity and it continues to grow with the new investments. Now, we provide direct flights to 19 different destinations. You are operating the airport of a highly touristic region. In such an important region, what are the challenges and tips of operating such a complex organization? We execute the Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport operations under the body of TAV Airports which is one of the industry’s leading companies worldwide. TAV, operating in every facets of airport operations with its subsidiary companies, brings its know-how and experience also for the Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport. In this sense, we work on together to push our limits further with this synergy. We aim to make Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport, primarily operated as a boutique airport, an international hub serving to Alanya and its periphery.