Johannesburg - Due to the increased demand for international travel to Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, Turkish Airlines will be launching its third South African route between Durban and Istanbul before 15 November this year.
Flights to the destination will take-off four times a week via Johannesburg with plans to implement a daily flight in the near future.
This is according to Muhammed Mehdi Tunc, general manager of the Turkish Airlines’ Johannesburg branch, who says that 2015 is the "Year of Africa" for the airline with several flight launches on the continent including Bamako Mali.
“The airline’s Africa network already includes 43 destinations on the continent and its direct flight launch to Cape Town in October was announced earlier this year.”
He pointed to tourism statistics eThekwini Municipality in February, which indicated that 2014 was a very successful year for tourism in Durban, with an increase of 12.8 % from 2013. The statistics indicate that 7.4 million visitors travelled to the destination, with a total direct spend of R19.2bn resulting from tourism.
In terms of market segmentation, the City of Durban recorded a 15% increase in foreign visitors from USA, 12% from Australia, 13% from Zimbabwe and 10 % from Zambia.
“We hope that the route between Durban and Istanbul will increase international leisure and business travellers to both cities,” concluded Tunc.