SunExpress Celebrates 35 Years in Business at Antalya Conference

SunExpress celebrated 35 years of business last week with a celebratory conference in the Gloria Golf Resort in Antalya, Türkiye, aptly titled 35 Years to the Sun and Beyond.

Guests from across the European aviation, travel and tourism sectors were invited to a two-day experience to learn more about SunExpress’ intentions to grow their brand to more than just sun destinations, paving the way for exciting opportunities.

SunExpress is a Turkish-German airline, founded in 1989 as a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa. It operates scheduled and chartered passenger flights to over 90 destinations in 30 countries in Europe as well as North Africa, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the Red Sea.

Guests arrived into Gloria Golf Resorts on direct SunExpress flights from Dublin, Germany and the UK on Wednesday evening, greeted with a beautiful musical performance, speciality cocktails and finger food.

The following day, the conference took shape with big ideas from renowned CEOs and guest speakers, alongside a machination of Turkish and German traditions reflecting the airline’s heritage.

Outside of the main conference hall, fire blew from a gas canister where one man was demonstrating the art of glass blowing. Across from him, a marbling workshop saw bright colours splayed out alongside a pottery workshop, a golf stand and a large SunExpress airplane model hanging from the sky in the centre of the room.

In the main conference arena, listeners heard first from Deniz Uğur, CEO of Bentour Reisen, Gerald Kassner, CEO of Schauinsland-Reisen and Shaun Morton, CEO of On the Beach where they took a look at rising trends for international travellers from countries across Europe, delving deeper into what tourists are looking for from their holidays.

Moderated by Michael Bell, Senior Client Partner of Korn Ferry- the conversation turned to accessibility for UK tourists, who seem to regard Türkiye as a more exotic destination than popular Spanish resorts.

Advocating for Türkiye, Kassner and Uğur told us that the value proposition for Türkiye continues to be their fantastic properties and hotels, a diverse selection of theme and water parks and amazing dining options. The weather is more palatable for UK customers in the Spring and Autumn months when it’s cooler, added Kassner, allowing for a longer season while still maintaining that resort feeling across the coast.

With a high percentage of repeat customers, Turkish Tourism representatives are pressed to introduce new tourists to the country. They believe the best way to do this will be to highlight the diversity of the country apart from the beach resorts by the coast.

From Cappadocia to the ski chalets across the mountainous regions, there is more to Türkiye than just the eclectic Istanbul and the draw of beach holidays that could increase visitors in the next few years. Alongside this, family holidays are increasing rapidly in similar countries with Egypt seeing a 20% rise in bookings made with children last year, this opens the door for Türkiye to make sure they’re attracting more families this year and beyond.

An interesting point of this talk, reiterated later in the day, was that many believe that no new resorts are truly required in order to achieve tourism goals in Türkiye, only an improvement made on the current offerings available across Antalya and the wider Turkish region. The same cannot be said, however, for the airport planning and infrastructure available to SunExpress and other airlines which needs to develop just as fast as the anticipated growth of the airline.

Speakers on this subject included Erkan Yağcı, President of Türkiye Hoteliers Federation, Kaan Kavaloğlu, President of Mediterranean Touristic Hoteliers and Investors Association and Sinan Seha Türkseven, Acting General Manager, Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency who discussed how they need to fortify infrastructure in hotel and resorts, and open new avenues for airports in order to meet tourism demands.

Getting to the baseline of the event’s theme, the title of 35 years to the Sun and Beyond began to take shape later in the day after lunch. “Yes,” said one representative from SunExpress, “the sun and beaches will always be a driving factor of tourists to Türkiye, but we want to make sure we are capturing traveller’s imagination before and after our most popular season.”

Helmut Wölfel, Commercial Director of SunExpress and Tobias Bracht, Head of Sales at SunExpress explained this in more detail. With an intricate map of Türkiye as a destination, Bracht explored the opportunities open for tourists across the country. He outlined that, apart from the sun and beach holidays, many tourists are interested in visiting Cappadocia for a hot balloon tour on the mountains or going to a ski resort in winter.

Adana and Ankara are popular for hunting, the latter also paired with Antalya is seeing a growth in Medical Tourism. Bolu and Bursa are popular ski destinations while adventurers can enjoy windsurfing, fishing, golf and sailing in Dalaman and Bodrum, alongside the mountainous area of Van. In order to cater for these expanding markets, SunExpress have doubled their flights from 80 to 160 flights per day in the winter season. Guest Savaş Çoban, Pro-Extreme Athlete who ran from Munich to Istanbul added that Türkiye is also becoming more attractive for sports teams who come to the country to take advantage of their amazing sports arenas and all-round weather pitches.

Golf Tourism continues to be a huge pulling factor for tourists seeking to travel to Türkiye– an important topic moderated by David Clare, Director of Golf Club, Gloria Hotels & Resorts. Belek, just a short journey from Gloria Golf Resorts is a key market for golf in Türkiye and Turkish tourism representatives envision a steep growth in this market in coming years. With over half of European golfers residing in the UK, golf tourism has the opportunity to grow exponentially with more direct flights from the UK to Antalya.

Unlike other sports, golf is enjoyed outdoors for extended hours which means that weather conditions are crucial for the enjoyment of the game. The panel cited that Turkish weather conditions are favourable for golfers during the colder months, with 300 days of sunshine. The inclusion of golfing holidaymakers in the winter season also helps to prop up and expand the local economy, keeping it supported through the quieter season.

In closing remarks, Max Kownatzki, CEO of SunExpress with Michael Bell reiterated that, although there is still work to do, SunExpress and its ever-expanding team of 5,000 employees serving 92 destinations is looking forward to the next 35 years of business.