New turkey-italy route promises mutal tourist booms

The announcement that Turkish Airlines will add an extra weekly service to the popular Italian riviera destination of Genoa should see a mutual growth in arrivals for two of Europe's top tourist economies.

The Turkish national carrier announced that it would now fly four weekly services to Genoa, the Italian riviera city from which the popular Ligurian Coast is most easily reached. The additional flights, from the airline's main base in Istanbul, will commence on June 27th.

The increasing connection to the country often considered the 'Gateway to the Middle East' is a welcome one for Italy, which has recently revamped its tourism strategy to focus more on growing economies in both this area and Eastern Europe.  The northern area of the country, traditionally considered the more 'moneyed' and exclusive as a regular haunt of celebrities like George Clooney and the late Elizabeth Taylor, is particularly beginning to open itself up to more mainstream tourism, with increased low-cost flights to areas like Lake Garda and new, more affordable holiday housing developments springing up.

Turkey, particularly Istanbul, has also come into its own as a destination for both vacations and permanent relocation, with many European retirees taking advantage of the low property prices to secure themselves a great piece of coastal real estate for their retirement years. The national population registry estimates that over 100,000 migrants arrived in the capital over 2009-10, meaning foreigners now make up 7.7% of Istanbul's total population.