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TURKISH COMPANIES TO ORGANIZE PACKAGE TOURS TO ARMENIA
Hurriyet Daily News
June15 2011
Turkey
A joint enterprise between two Turkish-based tourism companies is
planning to organize special package tours from Turkey to Armenia in
August, even though the two countries' borders have remained closed
since 1993.
The lack of recognition between the two peoples has resulted in
reservations about traveling to each other's countries for both
Armenians and Turks, according to one company owner.
"Turkish tourists had been traveling to Armenia through Georgia until a
couple of years ago, but now the situation has changed," Dikran Altun,
the owner of Tower Turizm, recently told the Hurriyet Daily News.
Altun's Tower Turizm will be partnering with Tuten Turizm to launch
the package tours to Armenia, which are made possible by the regular
scheduled flights between the two companies.
Altun has managed to sustain continued flights between Turkey and
Armenia with a plane he procured from Atlas Jet, a private airliner,
in the aftermath of the Nagorno-Karabakh War between Armenia and
Azerbaijan at the beginning of the 1990s.
"We struggled desperately to prevent the flights from being cancelled.
Otherwise, all contact [between Turkey and Armenia] would have been cut
off. Small problems did arise, but in the end, we were able to maintain
the flights by obtaining permission from the Foreign Ministry. It is
for this reason we can now implement these package tours," Altun said.
'Is it safe?'
"Unfortunately our people do not know each other - hence their
hesitation to travel," Altun said, adding that Turkish and Armenian
tourists set to visit each others' countries for the first time always
ask whether it is safe to travel.
Fifteen people have already made reservations for the tour, according
to Harutyan Demir, one of Tuten Turizm's co-owners.
"I was not expecting a large burst of demand anyway; interest will
grow bit by bit," Demir told the Daily News.
Aside from Istanbul Armenians, the company has also sent some Turkish
tourists to Yerevan in the past two years, though they were few in
number, according to Demir. This year's all-inclusive package trip
will cost between 960 and 1,200 euros.
Passengers predominantly fly from Armenia to Turkey, but increasing
numbers of businesspeople, journalists and intellectuals have also
been taking the flight from Turkey to Armenia every year, he said. Two
flights operate between Istanbul and Yerevan each week, while there
are also weekly flights between Yerevan and the Mediterranean Turkish
cities of Antalya and Bodrum during the summer season.
"My greatest desire is to see the re-establishment of relations and
dialogue between the two countries. It is of great significance for
me to see Turkish Airlines starting flights to Yerevan," Altun said.
Hurriyet Daily News
June15 2011
Turkey
A joint enterprise between two Turkish-based tourism companies is
planning to organize special package tours from Turkey to Armenia in
August, even though the two countries' borders have remained closed
since 1993.
The lack of recognition between the two peoples has resulted in
reservations about traveling to each other's countries for both
Armenians and Turks, according to one company owner.
"Turkish tourists had been traveling to Armenia through Georgia until a
couple of years ago, but now the situation has changed," Dikran Altun,
the owner of Tower Turizm, recently told the Hurriyet Daily News.
Altun's Tower Turizm will be partnering with Tuten Turizm to launch
the package tours to Armenia, which are made possible by the regular
scheduled flights between the two companies.
Altun has managed to sustain continued flights between Turkey and
Armenia with a plane he procured from Atlas Jet, a private airliner,
in the aftermath of the Nagorno-Karabakh War between Armenia and
Azerbaijan at the beginning of the 1990s.
"We struggled desperately to prevent the flights from being cancelled.
Otherwise, all contact [between Turkey and Armenia] would have been cut
off. Small problems did arise, but in the end, we were able to maintain
the flights by obtaining permission from the Foreign Ministry. It is
for this reason we can now implement these package tours," Altun said.
'Is it safe?'
"Unfortunately our people do not know each other - hence their
hesitation to travel," Altun said, adding that Turkish and Armenian
tourists set to visit each others' countries for the first time always
ask whether it is safe to travel.
Fifteen people have already made reservations for the tour, according
to Harutyan Demir, one of Tuten Turizm's co-owners.
"I was not expecting a large burst of demand anyway; interest will
grow bit by bit," Demir told the Daily News.
Aside from Istanbul Armenians, the company has also sent some Turkish
tourists to Yerevan in the past two years, though they were few in
number, according to Demir. This year's all-inclusive package trip
will cost between 960 and 1,200 euros.
Passengers predominantly fly from Armenia to Turkey, but increasing
numbers of businesspeople, journalists and intellectuals have also
been taking the flight from Turkey to Armenia every year, he said. Two
flights operate between Istanbul and Yerevan each week, while there
are also weekly flights between Yerevan and the Mediterranean Turkish
cities of Antalya and Bodrum during the summer season.
"My greatest desire is to see the re-establishment of relations and
dialogue between the two countries. It is of great significance for
me to see Turkish Airlines starting flights to Yerevan," Altun said.