Seeking to develop its footprint and make a reputation for itself exterior of summer season, Türkiye is seeking to leverage Austrian experience to bolster its winter tourism sector, as highlighted within the latest gathering of Turkish ski resort operators and pioneering infrastructure gamers from Austria.
Held at Mount Palandöken, one among Türkiye’s premier ski resorts, the third version of the Austrian Mountain Technology Summit convened from Friday via the weekend to discover avenues for cooperation and funding.
The collaboration underscores Türkiye’s ambition to diversify its tourism choices past the summer season season, aiming to faucet into the experience of Austria, famend globally for its winter sports activities infrastructure and occasions.
The summit, organized by the Austrian Trade Office, or Advantage Austria, targeted on sustainability and innovation. It aimed to foster partnerships in mountain applied sciences and focus on methods to place Türkiye as a outstanding winter tourism vacation spot.
Unlike earlier years, decision-makers and officers from Azerbaijan and Georgia participated on this 12 months’s occasion.
Austria is among the world’s greatest gamers in ski tourism and, with its Alps, is globally famend for infrastructure and winter sports activities occasions. Decades of expertise have enabled the nation to undertake the position of a pioneer and key provider within the winter sports activities business worldwide.
In distinction, Türkiye is famend for its summer season experience and resorts, with tourism being a important income supply for the nation looking for to curb its continual present account deficit.
A file of round 49.2 million vacationers arrived in Türkiye in 2023, a determine that reached 56.7 million mixed with practically 7.5 million Turkish residents residing overseas.
Efforts over the latest years have sought to assist Türkiye achieve reputation as a summer season and winter tourism vacation spot identified for its mountains amongst ski-lovers.
In Austria, ski tourism constitutes greater than 6% of the nation’s gross home product (GDP), Gabriele Juen, Austria’s ambassador to Ankara, informed Daily Sabah in an unique interview on the sidelines of the occasion.
“Last year, we recorded 69 million overnight stays, 19 million arrivals during the winter season, generating a turnover of 12.6 billion euros and contributing more than 6% to our country’s gross domestic product,” Juen mentioned.
In the primary half of this season, from November 2023 to January 2024, Austria noticed 32 million in a single day stays, which Juen mentioned was 4.4% greater than a 12 months in the past.
“But clearly, the year-round use of tourism infrastructure not only in mountain regions but beyond is becoming increasingly important, and so is the integration of sustainability technologies in winter sports facilities as the industry strives to introduce more environmentally friendly practices to conserve natural resources and also to reduce the ecological footprint,” mentioned the ambassador.
Years of investments in ski resorts, lodging services, and slopes have helped Türkiye improve the variety of journeys to its largest mountain services.
It has additionally been after investments and campaigns to develop mountain areas in a quest to strive increasing the tourism season year-round as a substitute of solely in summer season.
‘Türkiye has all of it’
Gerhard Lackner, Austria’s commerce commissioner in command of Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Georgia, didn’t count on to see Türkiye as a ski heart when he assumed the position nearly two years in the past.
“I didn’t have the country as a ski center on my radar. I was completely surprised to see that,” Lackner informed Daily Sabah, stressing the necessity for higher promotion. The expertise is there, the ski resorts are there, and the standard is ok. So perhaps it is now the time to look overseas and do some extra promotion overseas – not just for summer season trip but additionally for winter trip.”
“Türkiye has it all,” mentioned Lackner.
“What I know from here, from Erzurum, there are many skiers from Russia, from Ukraine, some from Arabic countries, but I believe other than that, it could be made more known in other parts of the world also,” he added.
Lackner mentioned Turkish ski resorts have already used Austrian tools and know-how and added, “I believe this can be expanded.”
He mentioned the winter sports activities business is clearly not the most important space and would not generate enormous quantities of exports or financial interchange, “but this is a sector which we see evolving constantly.”
Prominent gamers of their areas, from cable automotive and carry manufacturing to imaging techniques and turnstiles, Austrian corporations held bilateral conferences with operators and executives from Türkiye, Azerbaijan, and Georgia at Palandöken.
The summit aimed to allow gamers corresponding to Axess AG, Demaclenko GmbH, Input Projektentwicklungs GmbH, Master Concept Consulting GmbH, MND Austria GmbH, Panomax GmbH, Reform-Werke Bauer & Co GmbH, SKIDATA GmbH, Sunkid GmbH, Super Snow GmbH, Technoalpin Austria GmbH and Wintersteiger Sports GmbH to rearrange new partnerships and discover new investments alternatives.
Addressing the occasion, Erzurum Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ETSO) Vice President Serhat Kılıç said that the transformation and growth within the jap province in tourism and winter sports activities, which started within the early Nineteen Nineties, has gained noticeable momentum, particularly within the final twenty years.
Kılıç burdened a number of sports activities organizations, which made Erzurum extra internationally identified.
“We know that the quality of snow, the length of the season, and the appeal of its natural slopes are the main reasons why both athletes and skiing enthusiasts choose Palandöken,” he famous.
Kılıç expressed little doubt that “every investment made in the ski resorts in Erzurum will increase the attractiveness of our city.”
“Although Erzurum is known worldwide for its potential in winter tourism, it is also a city suitable for all kinds of outdoor sports and tourism with its geographical structure and natural resources potential,” he added.
“We believe that there will be many things to learn and experience from these collaborations where we can benefit from each other’s mutual experiences. In this regard, we wish for more cooperation between companies operating in Austria and sector investors in our country, and we emphasize that the potential of our city must be evaluated.”
Ambassador Juen mentioned the highest-standard tourism infrastructure is essential to Austria’s success.
“Our tourism industry encompasses a wide range of expertise and infrastructure, including producers and service providers in the winter sports industry, cable cars, ski resort operators, and consultants and planners for infrastructure and tourism projects,” the ambassador mentioned.
She mentioned Austrian cable automotive corporations are additionally energetic in summer season operations in most areas, and this has contributed to a really constructive growth for whole tourism areas within the nation’s Alps.
“Activities such as mountain biking, hiking, climbing, or simply facilitating access to enjoying the scenery and nature make mountain regions attractive in summer, too.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com