Bodrum Mayor Ahmet Aras has met with influential people in Russian and Ukranian media. Aras, who drew attention to the increase in foreign investment in the district, said that the Russians planned to invest US$ 300 million in Bodrum.
The influential personalities from Russian and Ukranian media came together at the invitation of Mayor Ahmet Aras in Bodrum, Turkey's tourism paradise. The social media personalities, who have millions of followers in their country, toured the historical regions of Bodrum on March 1-3, meeting with resident Russians and Ukrainians and viewing their lives.
Mayor Ahmet Aras noted that as Bodrum they competed with the world's tourism center cities such as Saint Tropez and Cannes in terms of service understanding and quality.
The mayor also said that the city was mostly visited by Russian and Ukrainian tourists last year adding many of them had invested and started to live in Bodrum. Aras also provided following figures in regards:
“In the former Soviet countries which also include Russia and Ukraine, our city has started to stand out more and more. We see that in numbers as well. During the pandemic, the tourism sector suffered a global collapse. In this process, Turkey was one of the few countries that survived again. Facilities in Bodrum and Antalya resisted the pandemic and remained open. I also want to thank them for their brave struggle. Russia, which sent 127 thousand tourists in 2019, took the first place in 2020 with 67 thousand 203 tourists. Again, 78,876 Ukrainians visited Bodrum, in 2019. With this number, Ukraine ranked 6th in 2019. In 2020, we had 66,637 Ukrainian guests in our city. Ukraine also came in second place last year, just behind Russia with a very small difference. In addition, citizens of Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Belarus and Kazakhstan are among the 25 countries that prefer Bodrum the most. Russians are buying more hotels or opening branches of their famous brands in Bodrum.”
