The Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) opened its annual convention this week at the Conrad Hotel in Istanbul. A total of 270 American and Canadian travel communicators and publicists have come to Türkiye for the society’s annual meeting, which includes four days of meetings and touring in Istanbul – with most delegates traveling throughout Türkiye before and/or after the Istanbul gathering. By the convention’s end, most participants will have visited Cappadocia, the Black Sea Coast, Izmir, Ephesus, Ankara, resorts on the Turkish Aegean shore and Istanbul.
Founded in 1955, SATW is the world’s largest and most influential group of travel communicators. It has held its annual convention in dozens of countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australasia. 2024 marks the society’s first convention in Türkiye.
USA and Canada are among Türkiye’s biggest growth markets
According to UN statistics, Türkiye is among the five biggest incoming tourism markets worldwide. Türkiye hosted 49.2 million visitors and earned US$46.9 billion in tourism in the first nine months of 2024. While Europe is the main source of Türkiye’s tourism, visitors from North America are especially sought after. This year, U.S. tourism to Türkiye has grown 9% over the same period of 2023. More importantly, compared with 2019 (the year before the COVID-19 pandemic), the number of visitors from the USA to Türkiye has grown 142%, and tourism from Canada has more than doubled.
The number of American tourists visiting Türkiye has risen steadily over the past years. In 2022, Türkiye welcomed more than one million (1,013,478) tourists from the US, which reached 1.33 (1,334,337) million last year. Türkiye aims to host 1.5 million American tourists this year.
Türkiye is also a rising destination for Canadians. In 2022, Türkiye hosted 198,000 Canadian tourists, which increased to 249,000 in 2023. Türkiye aims to sustain this increase in Canadian arrivals in the upcoming periods. As of September 30, 2024, 227,000 Canadians visited Türkiye, a 24% increase compared to the same period of 2023. This also represents a 106% increase when comparing the 2024 numbers with the pre-pandemic 2019 statistics.
The SATW 2024, an immersive Convention
The SATW 2024 Annual Convention program includes seminars, B2B meetings, panels, a media marketplace to generate collaborative works, and an agenda of pre- and post-tours that is full of experiences that the attendees can showcase in their publications. Istanbul’s most upscale hotels -including Conrad, The Peninsula, Çırağan Palace Kempsinki and Rixos Tersane – were selected as the locations for a range of activities within the convention program. The grand opening ceremony for the convention took place at the Conrad Hotel, with an impressive display of Turkish folk dances to celebrate Türkiye’s rich cultural heritage.
Source : Convention of SATW opens in Istanbul
