The annual meeting organised by Gattinoni Travel one of the largest tour operators in Italy, with the theme of Bringing People Together was held at Istanbul Atatürk Cultural Centre with the participation of approximately 500 sub-travel agencies.
Müberra Eresin, President of the Hoteliers Association of Turkey (TÜROB), stated that they have made intensive contacts for the organisation of the meeting in Istanbul and that they are pleased to see that the Tourism traffic between Turkey and Italy has increased in recent years and that they think that this meeting will make a great contribution to the tourism movements between the two countries:
''I would like to express that I am extremely happy to have brought an extremely important organisation for Turkish tourism to our country as a result of the intensive efforts we have initiated with Turkish Airlines as TÜROB under the close attention of our Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy. More than 500 travel agencies from different cities of Italy participated in the congress. After this organisation, we expect a significant increase in tourism demand from Italy to our country. We are grateful for the support of our Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Tourism Promotion and Development Agency Nadir Alpaslan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Turkish Airlines Prof. Dr. Ahmet Bolat, Chairman of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce Şekib Avdagiç, Deputy Chairman of the Tourism Development and Education Foundation Bahadır Yaşık and TÜROB members.''
Franco Gattinoni, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gattinoni, stated that it was inspiring for them to bring travel agencies together with the leading actors of tourism in Istanbul, where the concept of bridge is perfectly embodied, and that they will leave Istanbul to return again as soon as possible, leaving behind good memories with all the participants.
Gattinoni Travel, which reaches over 1 million tourists annually with approximately 1,500 downstream travel agencies, has more than 520 MICE (meeting, congress, conference, event) operations, 50 thousand travel organisations and achieved a turnover of 295 million Euros with a 40 percent growth in 2023, reached a contract volume of 1 billion 608 million Euros with an increase of 36 percent compared to the previous year.
