THE number of foreign tourists arriving to Didim and Kusadasi in 2016 increased – incredibly – by a modest 16 percent.

The news was broken by Didim Governor Iskender Yönden on Friday at a tourism-related conference in Kusadasi

While the number of foreign tourists to Turkey fell by 30 percent in 2016 to 25.3 million from 36.2 million in 2015, there was a ray of sunshine for local resorts.

Local tour agency businessman Hikmet Atilla welcomed the news

Mr Yönden said Kusadasi and Didim have experienced 16 percent rises, while the number of German tourists – a drop of 30 percent in general to turkey – had actually risen by the same percentage in 2016 to Didim.

Local tour agency businessman Hikmet Atilla, who is also a member of the German Travel Agencies Association (DRV) Overseas Commission and Didim Chamber of Commerce, said: “The 16% increase in our surveillance was due to a number of efforts.

“For example, we attended a meeting attended by international politicians and tourists in Çanakkale last year. Our mayor was a speaker there.

“We also attended the International Sister Cities Tourism Summit in Mersin. We also held meetings with journalists and NGOs in Germany. We attended the ITB Berlin Fair with representatives of all non-governmental organizations in our city.”