On the sidelines of World Travel Market London, one of the largest tourism fairs in the world, representatives of USAID Developing Sustainable Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Turizam) and Turkish Airlines have signed a Joint Implementation Plan stipulating cooperation on growing international travel demand and increasing bookings to Bosnia and Herzegovina. USAID Turizam and Turkish Airlines will propel the brand of Bosnia and Herzegovina in priority source markets, including Turkiye, the United Kingdom, USA, Gulf countries and the Far East as a necessary precursor to growing and sustaining demand.
As part of the Joint Implementation Plan, USAID Turizam and Turkish Airlines have agreed a range of activities, including organizing educational seminars for BiH and priority source markets outbound trade, roadshows and familiarization trips for tours operators, media, bloggers and influencers.
USAID Turizam expresses its gratitude to Turkish Airlines for this important partnership and commends their investment in the tourism development of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Turkish Airlines flies to 122 countries – more than any other in the world – and it will use its global network of partners to ensure the success of our promotional efforts. In this way, we aim to contribute to several of our most important project goals, including accelerating recovery of demand to pre-pandemic level and setting arrivals on a growth trajectory, increasing the number of arrivals and reducing seasonality through targeted and effective marketing and promotion of BiH tourism assets, improving efficiency and reach of promotional activities and supporting the tourism trade’s marketing and sales capacity.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is very well positioned to host international visitors from leading outbound destination. Its natural, cultural and historic tourism assets, climate and high value for money make it an ideal visitor destination. Historic demand of travelers to Bosnia and Herzegovina has seen rapid growth in the years leading to 2019. The pandemic has interrupted this growth during 2020, but numbers in 2021 and 2022 indicate a strong recovery trend that can be further strengthened through concentrated Business to Business (B2) and Business to Consumer (B2C) promotional and sales efforts.
Sevcan Bicer, Turkish Airlines acting director for Bosnia and Herzegovina stated: “Turkish Airlines has been present in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1996, and ever since has invested millions of US$ in the promotion of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the international marketplace. Together with the private sector, we have been promoting the country for the last 12 years all over the world. As a result, we have generated huge market interest from Turkiye, the Middle East, and the Far East. Continuing our investment in Bosnia and Herzegovina we are happy to partner with USAID Turizam project in co-marketing activities to promote the country in different priority source markets, where Turkish Airlines has a significant presence. This will benefit not only Turkish Airlines but the whole country as well. We are excited to announce that tourists traveling to Sarajevo with Turkish Airlines will be eligible for a free Istanbul Stopover experience. This means that they can stay in a five-star hotel for two days on Business Class trips, and in a four-star hotel for one day on Economy Class trips in Istanbul, all 100% paid by Turkish Airlines. This way we are encouraging the tour operators to create itineraries combining the exciting Bosnia and Herzegovina complemented with the wonderful Istanbul.”
