UCI Nirvana Gran Fondo World Series Antalya 2023", organized by the International Cycling Union (UCI) and whose destination partner is Turkey Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA), will be held on November 16-19 this year. The launch meeting of the organization, which will be held for the 3rd time this year under the main sponsorship of Nirvana Hotels, which is a part of Kilit Group, was held with the participation of Antalya Governor Mr. Hulusi Şahin. The launch meeting was held at Nirvana Cosmopolitan Hotel with the participation of Mr. Hulusi Şahin, Governor of Antalya. More than a thousand cycling athletes from many different countries of the world will participate in the UCI Nirvana Gran Fondo World Series Antalya 2023 International Cycling Organization, whose launch theme is cycling tourism.
At the launch meeting; Antalya Governor Mr. Hulusi Şahin, Deputy Governor Yalçın Sezgin, Antalya Provincial Director of Youth and Sports Yavuz Gürhan, Provincial Director of Culture and Tourism Candemir Zoroğlu, Muratpaşa District Governor Orhan Burhan, Döşemealtı District Governor Nuri Özder, Aksu District Governor Ahmet Hikmet Şahin, Fraport TAV Antalya General Manager Gudrun Teloeken and Deniz Varol, Corendon Airlines CEO Yıldıray Karaer, AG Seed CEO Burak Gönen, ARSO Group CEO Ruslan Osmanlı, Organizing Committee Chairman Hakan Bayraktar, Nirvana Hotels CEO Korhan Alşan and members of the press.
"PRESIDENTIAL CYCLING TOUR STARTS IN ANTALYA"
Antalya Governor Mr. Hulusi Şahin emphasized that cycling is a very valuable sport and said: "I wish this cycling race, which will be held in the near future, will be successful. Hulusi Şahin emphasized that cycling is a very valuable sport and said, "I wish that this cycling race, which will be held in the near future, will be successful. Antalya tourism continues to rise rapidly by gaining a very serious momentum. Although there are very serious geopolitical risks that the world is going through, we have recently survived a major disaster called a pandemic, especially hitting tourism. Turkey's tourism has given a very good test with minimal damage in this regard. Antalya performed its flagship function in this regard. The incoming figures show that we will reach our highest level of 2019 again on December 31 with the number of arriving guests and the number of landed aircraft. We estimate that we will probably exceed up to 3 percent. We have not yet reached that point in terms of revenue and hotel occupancy rate, but I believe we will get there. As Mr. Korhan has just stated; we absolutely need to diversify our tourism. We need to come up with value-added products and we also need to get acquainted with new concepts in tourism. In this regard, the Belek region, where we are located, is doing very successful work. It has become a center especially in golf tourism. Nirvana Hotels is making very special moves in this regard, the bicycle tour is one of them. But the Cosmos Theater he built is really a magnificent stage. God willing, we will organize our Republic reception on October 29th on this stage. We need to diversify Antalya's tourism with elements such as golf, cycling and football, which are valuable in terms of tourism. This diversity is very valuable in terms of increasing the tourism season to 12 months due to Antalya's climate, and it is also very important in terms of increasing the income we will earn in the field of science. In addition, cycling is a very valuable sport. Antalya can be called a center in this regard. The president of the Cycling Federation is also from Antalya and every year the Presidential Cycling Tour starts in Antalya. This event has become very harmonious and very valuable. I would like to thank all our stakeholders, especially our host Kilit Grup and other sponsoring organizations, and I wish it to be a successful organization."
"OUR PRIORITY IN OUR RACE IS THE PROMOTION OF ANTALYA"
Hakan Bayraktar, Chairman of the Organizing Committee; "Approximately 1500 participants, 36 countries and athletes from provinces and districts of Turkey will participate in our organization which will start on November 17. The excitement will start on November 17 with our first race 20 km against the clock. On November 19, our final will end with 66 km AG Seed short course and 98 km long course. In the organization; We would like to thank all units, especially our Governorship, our Metropolitan Municipality and District Municipalities for their support. I would like to thank our Provincial Director of Youth Sports, Mr. Yavuz Gürhan, who has always supported us, and our Provincial Director of Tourism, Dr. Candemir Zoroğlu, who has never lacked support. Our biggest priority for the continuation of these organizations is of course our sponsors. I would like to thank our main sponsor Kilit Family, Tuncay Kilit, our valuable CEO Korhan Alşan, Fraport Antalya General Managers Gudrun Teloeken and Deniz Varol, Corendon Airlines Family and Yıldıray Karaer, AG Seed CEO Burak Gönen, ARSO Group CEO Ruslan Osmanlı for their support. Our priority in our race is the promotion of Antalya. We also want Antalya to have activities where only sports will stand out. UCI Nirvana Gran Fondo is an international race. In the races here, athletes who will be in the top 20% of their categories will be eligible to go to the World Championship. We are happy to bring this international organization to Antalya. There are very serious participants from abroad who will be among us in this race. This year we will have about 1500 people. I hope everything will be much better this year," he said.
ALŞAN "49 OF OUR HOTELS HAVE BICYCLE FRIENDLY HOTEL CERTIFICATE";
Korhan Alşan, CEO of Nirvana Hotels, stated that cycling also makes an important contribution to the promotion of the country, the region and the town; "Cycling is very important for us. Actually, as you know, as Nirvana Hotels and Crystal Hotels, we are practicing the tourism business model that we define as the all-inclusive concept. Maybe I need to say something on behalf of tourism professionals. Tourism needs to be integrated with the city, culture and sociality. Tourism needs to be reflected outside the hotels. We have adopted a mission in this sense and we attach great importance to product diversification, which our Minister of Tourism, Mr. Mehmet Ersoy, is very sensitive about, in the products we develop from now on. We are trying to integrate not only hotel management but also alternative tourism types into our facilities. Cosmos Theatre, Cosmos Moonlight, our bicycle brand Cosmo Bike, our sports center, our health center are actually examples of these. Cycling is a very important sport, and it is a subject that I personally care a lot about. It creates a huge market. It creates an economy worth 46 billion euros in the European market alone. Cycling is equivalent to the entire tourism revenues of Turkey. The latest data on bicycle friendly facility certification was announced at EuroVelo. 49 of our facilities are currently certified as bicycle friendly facilities in Turkey. There are 15,000 points in Spain alone. So in this sense, it is actually extremely important for all tourism professionals to have a bicycle-friendly facility certificate. Because as you know in the digital world, bicycle enthusiasts are also searching for this infrastructure on the internet. In this sense, our number needs to increase. Our Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism and Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sports attach great importance to cycling. The support of our Governor and Mayor is also very important. The UCI Nirvana Gran Fondo World Series Antalya 2023 International Cycling Organization, which we will organize for the third time this year, is extremely important in terms of uniting both amateurs and professionals. We started with the participation of 350-400 athletes. This year, we expect the number to exceed 2000 athletes. There is an interest especially from the UK market. There will be famous cycling phenomena. At the same time, some agencies and organizers who bring special boutique groups will also be a part of this tournament. Cycling also makes a very important contribution to the promotion of the country, the region and the town. Because when they go out of the hotel, they see the environment and integrate into the culture. We also make a very important contribution to the promotion of Antalya to the foreigners who come. A new guest brings a new market. As Kilit Group, we will continue to invest in bicycles."
