Turkish Airlines puts spotlight on Turkey's routine business & tourism operations by hosting 50 infl

Turkish Airlines, Europe's best airline for the sixth year in a row*, and flying to more countries and international destinations than any other airline in the world, is highlighting the continued growth of Turkey as a business and tourism hubby hosting 50 influential media from the Middle East.

The media familiarisation trip included journalists from the United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

The five-day trip from August 5 to 9, 2016, covered four different cities including Istanbul, Samsun, Ordu and Trabzon.

1. Ilker Ayci, Turkish Airlines Chairman of the Board & the Executive Committee, hosted the media at the headquarters of Turkish Airlines. He welcomed the media and specifically highlighted the all-round growth and the socio-economic progress of Turkey and Turkish Airlines, in addition to the airline's future growth strategies and goals, and its commitment to expand its destination network to fly the most number of passengers.

He also said that Istanbul Ataturk Airport, the hub airport of Turkish Airlines, is competing to be the best in Europe in 'Passenger Traffic,' which is supported by the flag carrier by flying to more countries and international destinations than any other airline in the world. After successfully welcoming 62 million passengers worldwide by the end of last year, Mr. Ayci stressed that his overall strategies will play a key role in reaching approximately 65 million passengers by the end of 2016.

The media had a tour of Istanbul visiting the areas including the Blue Mosque, a popular tourist site, as well as toured the Bosphorus Bridge and Camlica Hills.

In the last three days of the trip, they visited Samsun, which is well known for its large number of 5 star hotels and touristic & leisure attractions such as the waterski show, boat trip, horse riding, experiencing Amazon Warriors Village and bike tours, and Sultan's fishing area.

They also toured Trabzon, another city famous for its luxurious hotel and touristic attractions such as the Ayasofya Museum, Ataturk Pavilion and Uzungol Park Festival, among others.

At Ordu, the visiting media were offered a breath-taking experience with a visit to the biggest strawberry field of Blacksea, and a tour around the Giresun Castle and a boat tour around Giresun Island.