Turkish minister boosts Northern Cyprus tourism

By Inci Gundag

LONDON (AA) - Turkey’s tourism minister on Tuesday promoted a booth touting Northern Cyprus’ attractions at a travel expo in London.

Unveiling Turkey's stand at the World Travel Market (WTM), which will be open through Nov. 9 in east London’s ExCeL convention center, Numan Kurtulmus told journalists: "Northern Cyprus is truly a place of great natural beauty."

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) taking its place at the major fair, which attracts over 50,000 visitors every year, is a “quite valuable and important” development, he said.

“We need to use every platform to promote” Northern Cyprus, he added.

Kurtulmus also said Turkey is ready to forge "any kind of business cooperation in the field of tourism" with Northern Cyprus.

The Eastern Mediterranean island has been divided since 1974 when a Greek Cypriot coup was followed by violence against the island's Turks, and Ankara's intervention as a guarantor power.

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus -- currently recognized only by Turkey as an independent state -- is seeking to attract more tourists, who must travel to the country via a Turkish port or airport.

According to the latest figures, nearly 1.3 million people visited the north in the first nine months of this year, up from about 1.1 million in the same period in 2016.

Over 300,000 of those visitors this year were non-Turkish citizens.

* Ilker Girit in Istanbul contributed to this story.