The opening of the 1st International Winter Tourism Congress, hosted and conducted by Atatürk University and organized with the collaboration of the Governorate of Erzurum, Mayoralty of Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality and Tourism Academicians Association (TUADER), started at Nenehatun Cultural Centre.

Besides Prof. Dr. Ömer Çomaklı, Rector of Atatürk University, Yıldız Büyüker, Vice Governor of Erzurum; Fevzi Polat, Deputy Mayor of Erzurum; Zafer Aynalı, General Secretary of Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality; Fuat Taşkesenligil, Provincial Director of Youth and Sports; Cemal Almaz, Provincial Director of Culture; Prof. Dr. Hasan Gürbüz,  Dean of the Faculty of Tourism; academicians  on national and international scale and many students attended the opening ceremony.

250 Participants Joined with 152 Papers

Giving the opening speech, Prof. Dr. Hasan Gürbüz, Dean of the Faculty of Tourism,  stated that Erzurum, which was declared as the centre of winter tourism in 1993 and located on the winter tourism corridor, had great potential in terms of winter tourism and winter sports.  Mr. Gürbüz who said: ''The aim of the 1st International Winter Tourism Congress is to bring together national and international researchers, sector representatives and public institutions from different disciplines in the field of Tourism, to ensure that winter tourism is dealt with in various aspects and to share knowledge and experiences, thus we aim to contribute to the winter tourism in a national and regional sense.''

Prof. Dr. Gürbüz stated: ''A total of 250 participants from seven different countries participated in our congress with 152 papers. Our congress is in an important position on the verge of  bringing our students together with the sector and having internship opportunities, career and business planning for them. On this occasion, due to their support to our congress, I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to our Rector Prof. Dr. Ömer Çomaklı first of all, the esteemed domestic and international participants,  the ones contributing to the organization of the congress, the members of the organization and scientific committee and those who contributed at every stage from preparation to realization.”

We Also Take Sector Demands into Consideration

Rector Çomaklı started his speech by mentioning that Palandöken Mountain was a winter tourism centre that stood out with its ski-run having different difficulty levels, the snow quality, the duration of snow cover, having the longest chairlift line in total in the country and he also stated that the Palandöken Mountain Range has great potential in terms of skiing as well as these available values.

Rector Çomaklı stated that Atatürk University undertook an important role in exploitation of this potential and said: ''In addition to our contributions to the development of the tourism sector and providing the qualified workforce needed, within the scope of the New Generation University Design and Transformation Project that we are conducting, we wish for each students studying in our university to graduate in a degree that they are able to do one of the winter sports at least very well. Furthermore, taking the demands of the sector into account, we opened the first Tourist Guidance Department of our region and accepted students this year apart from the two available departments of our Faculty of Tourism.

Emphasizing that the most comprehensive winter tourism congress had been held in our country to date, Rector Prof. Dr. Ömer Çomaklı finally stated: ''I would like to thank, on behalf of myself and my institution, the academicians participating from countrywide and abroad, the representatives of public and private sector and the non-governmental organizations showing interest in our congress, career day and panels for their participation in the congress. I wish good luck with the congress.”

The Congress will continue at the Tourism Practice Hotel on December 19th and 21st.

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION DIRECTORATE