The 12th edition of the Istanbul Tulip Festival, organized by Turkish Airlines to empower Istanbul’s tourism sector, concluded last week.
For the third time in a row, the airline invited over 250 participants from across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), to attend the festival. These included agencies, media members and social media influencers. They participated in a commercial workshop at the end of the promotional tour.
Guests from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Palestine, Bahrain, Iraq, the UAE, Tunisia, Oman, Jordan, Lebanon, and Morocco attended the event. As part of the festival, workshops were held by 25 hotels of Istanbul which resulted in over 2,250 meetings.
A gala dinner was organized at the end of the program for all participants. It was also attended by Bilal Eski, Turkish Airlines CEO.
Eski said: “We are pleased to have organized this event with 12 participating countries contributing to the Turkish tourism sector. In order to increase the number of passengers coming from the MENA region, we at Turkish Airlines will continue to support Turkish tourism with charter and direct flights to cities such as Istanbul, Trabzon, Antalya, Bodrum, Izmir and Bursa. When our guests return to their countries, they will make an effort to gain potential travelers by sharing the beauty of Istanbul and its touristic richness.”
Sheetal Vijaykumar, a participant, said: “Istanbul is a perfect city in every aspect; it is like a diamond on the crown of the world of tourism. Lately, global incidents have affected countries which included Brussels, Paris, London and Istanbul, but now as per my observation, I can say that the future of Istanbul tourism will be as colorful as the tulips.”
The first international Istanbul Tulip Festival was held in 2005.
This year, participants at the event had the chance to view millions of tulips — in over 120 varieties — across parks, plazas and gardens. The Istanbul Tulip Festival delivered a successful message that the tulip is native to Turkey, and not Netherlands or Europe.

Source: Arab News