KARACHI – To attract more tourists, Turkish Airlines is planning to introduce a unique Umrah package for Pakistani citizens and under the proposed scheme, the passenger will fly to Jeddah via Istanbul.
Turkish Consul General Tolag Ucak, Turkish Airlines General Manager Pakistan, Fatih Atacan Temel, and leaders of the travel industry gathered at Turkish Airlines Agency Awards Ceremony 2017 where Tolag Ucak told that the number of Pakistanis visiting Turkey was increasing with every passing day. In the year 2000, less than 8000 Pakistanis visited Turkey but in 2017 this number grew manifold and more than 77000 Pakistani visited Turkey, according to the official.
“Corporate sector tourism is the main key to bringing more and more Pakistanis to Turkey. To facilitate Pakistani visitors, Turkey has introduced an electronic visa application system. We are trying to increase Turkish visitors to Pakistan as well.” he added.
The Consul General said that Turkish Airlines started in 1933 with only 5 aircraft and now the airline has more than 228 aircraft, flying to 320 destinations across 120 countries, reported Propakistani.
Fatih Atacan Temel, in his speech, told that Turkish Airlines was planning to offer a unique Umrah Plus package to Pakistanis which is not comparable with current Umrah packages.
“During 2017, Turkish Airlines’ passengers from Pakistan grew 5 percent and revenue grew 32 percent. Corporate Sales growth reported a 352 percent increase,” added Temel.
Statistically, last year was very good for overall operations of the airline as passenger traffic was 68 million, up by 9.3 percent compared to 2016.
