Football tourism brings winter cash to Antalya

With winter kicking in, Antalya is becoming the object of attraction for some 500 European clubs and a greater benefit to the region's economy, thanks to the warm weather and modern sporting facilities

ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News

It is time for a break for European football and once again hundreds of Turkish and foreign teams are rushing to Antalya to hold their training camps.

A majority of the Turkcell Super League teams – including top teams Galatasaray, Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe and Trabzonspor – have been involved in arranging the training camp in the Mediterranean province during the winter break. European teams do not only come to Turkey for training camps in the winter. Alongside Turkish clubs many of the major European clubs also prefer the “Turkish Riviera” for mid-season and pre-season camps too.

German title contender Schalke 04 is staying in the Kempinski Hotel, while Werder Bremen is in Rixos Premier and Bayer Leverkusen, Galatasaray's opponent in the UEFA Cup, has chosen Sueno Hotel. Gloria Golf Hotel is the location for Karlsruher, South Korean FC Seoul, as well as Dynamo Moscow and Spartak Moscow of Russia.

According to reports, some 500 teams, each with squads and staff of 30 people, will have held training camps in Antalya between January and the end of March. Obviously, football tourism is a great asset for Turkey, bringing approximately $60 million into Antalya during the current winter tourism season.

The main reason why Antalya is preferred this much is that the climate is suitable for European teams, whose countries are mainly covered in snow at this time of year. But Antalya has more than that, said Volkan Şimşek, the head of Professional Hotel Administrators Association (POYD).

Şimşek said that Turkey is benefiting from previous investments in winter tourism that began in the 1990s, after realizing that sports such as golf, football, cycling and running are factors that can attract tourists at times when they could not be enjoyed in northern countries. Now there is a remarkable number of such sporting facilities in Antalya.

“There are more than 100 football pitches in the region,” Şimşek said to the TDN. “A pitch can be used by two or three teams at the same time, over a period of three months. Turkey is far ahead of European countries in terms of the facilities it has to offer.”

Şimşek believes there is still more room to grow, and said that the market is open to investors on alternative tourism methods. He adds that more serious work needed, as this is important on so many levels.

“When a team comes to Antalya in the wintertime, its members also visit the country in summer,” said Şimşek. “More indirectly, people all around Europe are informed about the facilities available in Turkey via the news about those teams on television.” As Antalya adds comfortable and modern facilities to its climate advantage, it seems set to maintain its key position as the choice of European teams.