The rising numbers of Arab tourists have been good for trade, as not only do they spend more money than their European counterparts, they also tend to stay longer. Above, the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.
The rising numbers of Arab tourists have been good for trade, as not only do they spend more money than their European counterparts, they also tend to stay longer. Above, the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.

Turkey, the cool tourist destination for Arabs



ISTANBUL // The main reason why millions of holidaymakers from all over Europe flock to Turkey's beaches every summer is that the weather is much sunnier and hotter here than back home. For Ali al Daraj and his family, it is exactly the other way round.

"We love the weather," the 15-year-old boy from Baghdad said recently, as he was strolling down a street towards Taksim Square in the centre of Turkey's metropolis, Istanbul, together with his father, his uncle and other relatives. "It is so hot in Iraq now." Eleven members of the al Daraj family from Iraq and Jordan chose Turkey for a one-month holiday that will include a visit to Ankara, the capital, as well as a prolonged stay in Istanbul. "It is so beautiful here; there are so many different things to see and do," Ali said.

The al Darajs are not alone. Although still small compared with the mass of European tourists, the number of Arab holiday makers in Turkey has been rising steeply. Many shops, travel agencies and restaurants in the Talimhane neighbourhood close to Taksim Square, where Ali and his family started their walkabout, have Arab-language signs. According to figures provided by the tourism ministry in Ankara, about 105,000 visitors from a group of Arab countries comprising the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Syria and others came to Turkey in May this year, an increase of about 33 per cent over May 2009. Overall, there were 3.15 million foreign visitors in Turkey in May, up 15 per cent from the corresponding month last year. In total, Turkey welcomed 27 million visitors in 2009.

But numbers alone do not tell the whole story. Travel industry sources say the average Arab tourist spends much more money and stays much longer than European holiday makers, most of whom come to Turkey with cheap package tours. "An Arab will spend in a day what a European package tourist will spend on his whole holiday," said Aydin Ulcay of the Alharran travel agency. Some Arab families will spend US$5 million (Dh18.3 million) on a lavish wedding at one of the posh hotels on the Bosphorus, Turkish newspapers have reported. Others will rent a villa for their holiday. While Europeans tend to come in pairs or small groups, Arabs like the al Darajs bring their extended families.

Several travel entrepreneurs said in interviews that the rise in the numbers of Arab tourists in Turkey began shortly after the religiously conservative Justice and Development Party, or AKP, of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, came to power at the end of 2002. "Erdogan has a Muslim identity," said Abdulkadir Duger, the general manager of Alharran. Under Mr Erdogan, Turkey has markedly improved its ties with the Arab world, scrapped visa requirements with such countries as Syria and increased trade with Arab states. Travel entrepreneurs said the rise in Arab tourism was a long-term trend resting on several factors and not triggered by recent crises like the Turkish-Israeli confrontation over the Israeli attack on Turkish ships carrying aid for the Gaza Strip in May 31.

"They come because of the [cooler] weather, because there is halal food here, because Turkey is cheaper than Europe and because they love Erdogan," said Bedir Samur, sales manager for the Mostar rent-a-car service in Talimhane. If the reasons why Arab tourists choose Turkey are different from the motives of European visitors, so are the preferred travel destinations inside Turkey. Most Europeans fly to resort towns like Antalya or Bodrum along the southern and western coasts of Turkey. In contrast, many Arabs want to go to places like Bursa, a former Ottoman capital south of Istanbul, and to the Black Sea region, which is known for its forests and cool temperatures. A wall in Mr Duger's office at the Alharran travel agency is covered by a giant poster of Uzungol, a picturesque lake surrounded by lush green forests and mountains south of Trabzon on the Black Sea. Uzungol is a popular destination for Arab tourists, but almost completely ignored by western visitors.

Regions along Turkey's border with Syria in the south of the country have also reported a wave of visitors, mostly citizens from the southern neighbour benefitting from the lifting of visa requirements. The province of Hatay, for example, expects to see about 1.5 million visitors, mostly from Syria, this year, double the number registered last year, according to news reports. In the south, it is not the climate that attracts visitors, but shopping opportunities. Malls in Gaziantep, a major city close to Turkey's border with Syria, have introduced announcements in Arab for the benefit of Syrian customers who come to buy clothes, jewellery and other goods. "Businessmen in the city are extremely happy," CNN reported.

Turkish entrepreneurs do not expect an end to the trend any time soon. Turgut Gur, the chairman of the Turkish Tourism Investors Association, a business organisation, told Turkish media that although the number of tourists from Israel had fallen sharply since the recent tensions, the increase in the number of tourists from Arab countries had made up for it. "It will continue to increase," Mr Ulcay of the Alharran travel agency said about the wave of Arab tourists. "Things will keep going upwards as long as the Middle East does not run out of money."

@Email:tseibert@thenational.ae

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Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed 

Company profile

Date started: 2015

Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki

Based: Dubai

Sector: Online grocery delivery

Staff: 200

Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends

The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre turbo

Power: 181hp

Torque: 230Nm

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

Starting price: Dh79,000

On sale: Now

The specs

Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)

The biog

Title: General Practitioner with a speciality in cardiology

Previous jobs: Worked in well-known hospitals Jaslok and Breach Candy in Mumbai, India

Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur

How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993

Family: a 90-year-old mother, wife and two daughters

Remembers a time when medicines from India were purchased per kilo

THE%20HOLDOVERS
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Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Josh Brolin

4/5 stars 

The biog

Name: Maitha Qambar

Age: 24

Emirate: Abu Dhabi

Education: Master’s Degree

Favourite hobby: Reading

She says: “Everyone has a purpose in life and everyone learns from their experiences”

Innotech Profile

Date started: 2013

Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari

Based: Muscat, Oman

Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies

Size: 15 full-time employees

Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing 

Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now. 

UAE WARRIORS RESULTS

Featherweight

Azouz Anwar (EGY) beat Marcelo Pontes (BRA)

TKO round 2

Catchweight 90kg

Moustafa Rashid Nada (KSA) beat Imad Al Howayeck (LEB)

Split points decision

Welterweight

Gimbat Ismailov (RUS) beat Mohammed Al Khatib (JOR)

TKO round 1

Flyweight (women)

Lucie Bertaud (FRA) beat Kelig Pinson (BEL)

Unanimous points decision

Lightweight

Alexandru Chitoran (ROU) beat Regelo Enumerables Jr (PHI)

TKO round 1

Catchweight 100kg

Marc Vleiger (NED) beat Mohamed Ali (EGY)

Rear neck choke round 1

Featherweight

James Bishop (NZ) beat Mark Valerio (PHI)

TKO round 2

Welterweight

Abdelghani Saber (EGY) beat Gerson Carvalho (BRA)

TKO round 1

Middleweight

Bakhtiyar Abbasov (AZE) beat Igor Litoshik (BLR)

Unanimous points decision

Bantamweight

Fabio Mello (BRA) beat Mark Alcoba (PHI)

Unanimous points decision

Welterweight

Ahmed Labban (LEB) v Magomedsultan Magomedsultanov (RUS)

TKO round 1

Bantamweight

Trent Girdham (AUS) beat Jayson Margallo (PHI)

TKO round 3

Lightweight

Usman Nurmagomedov (RUS) beat Roman Golovinov (UKR)

TKO round 1

Middleweight

Tarek Suleiman (SYR) beat Steve Kennedy (AUS)

Submission round 2

Lightweight

Dan Moret (USA) v Anton Kuivanen (FIN)

TKO round 2

Singham Again

Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3/5

Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Airev
Started: September 2023
Founder: Muhammad Khalid
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: Generative AI
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
 
THE SPECS

      

 

Engine: 1.5-litre

 

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

 

Power: 110 horsepower 

 

Torque: 147Nm 

 

Price: From Dh59,700 

 

On sale: now  

 
Company%20profile
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Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Fasset%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2019%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mohammad%20Raafi%20Hossain%2C%20Daniel%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%242.45%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2086%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Pre-series%20B%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Investcorp%2C%20Liberty%20City%20Ventures%2C%20Fatima%20Gobi%20Ventures%2C%20Primal%20Capital%2C%20Wealthwell%20Ventures%2C%20FHS%20Capital%2C%20VN2%20Capital%2C%20local%20family%20offices%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6

Power: 400hp

Torque: 475Nm

Transmission: 9-speed automatic

Price: From Dh215,900

On sale: Now

SERIES INFO

Afghanistan v Zimbabwe, Abu Dhabi Sunshine Series

All matches at the Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Test series

1st Test: Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan by 10 wickets
2nd Test: Wednesday, 10 March – Sunday, 14 March

Play starts at 9.30am

T20 series

1st T20I: Wednesday, 17 March
2nd T20I: Friday, 19 March
3rd T20I: Saturday, 20 March

TV
Supporters in the UAE can watch the matches on the Rabbithole channel on YouTube

THE SPECS

Engine: six-litre W12 twin-turbo

Transmission: eight-speed dual clutch auto

Power: 626bhp

Torque: 900Nm

Price: Dh940,160 (plus VAT)

On sale: Q1 2020

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How does ToTok work?

The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store

To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.

The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.

Users can also invite other contacts to download ToTok to allow them to make contact through the app.

 

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding