Managing Director of Intra Travel & Mice, Katherine Pinar Ozbilge has become new President of American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) in Turkey.
Ms. Ozbilge spoke about her election, commenting “Unfortunately, since last year, the crises and terrorist incidents which have affected our country, and resulted in cruise companies cancelling visits to Turkish ports, have had a serious effect on the number of American tourists visiting. I want to say how happy I am to be able to play my part in helping my beloved Turkish tourism, since I will now be in a position to make a difference to the perception of Turkey on the international stage, and work with my colleagues to find opportunities to promote Turkey’s many attractions. The United States of America has always been one of the foremost countries from which high class tourists visit Turkey, and during my time in the role, my goal will be to work tirelessly to forge closer ties with Turkey, and to undertake research and any necessary measures to restore consumer confidence and improve co-operation as quickly as possible.
ASTA, the American Society of Travel Agents, is known as the largest association of tourism professionals in the world. The society’s members are made up of American travel agents and American and international agents and other companies, who serve them throughout the world. Although most of the members come from the US tourism industry, there are ASTA members situated in 120 countries worldwide.
The activities of ASTA include: monitoring and reporting industry trends; supplying regular information to and providing educational activities for its members; arranging two tourism fairs, one in the US and the other outside the US (International Destination Expo); listing its members' worldwide activities on www.travelsense.org; representing and protecting the sector’s interests in the US both in terms of legislation and the economy.
