Indian citizens are showing great interest in Turkey as a tourist destination, the Indian envoy said Thursday. Sanjay Bhattacharyya, the Indian ambassador to Ankara, told that the number of Indian tourists visiting Turkey went up by 80 percent in 2018, compared to 2017.

Axar.az reports citing Anadolu Agency.

Bhattacharyya praised Turkish ski resort Palandoken, located in the eastern province of Erzurum upon his visit.

"India has many ski options as well, so a lot of Indians go there. They go off to Europe for skiing. But this (Palandoken) can be a new destination. I think the signs can be good. Because last year, there was an increase of about 80 percent in the number of Indian tourists coming to Turkey," Bhattacharyya said, adding that Palandoken ski center is a beautiful destination.

"It is also very important for Turkish tourists to go to India, because they get to see more of each other," he said. Palandoken is Turkey's most accessible ski resort, located approximately 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Erzurum Airport.

Palandoken provides opportunity for night skiing with its world-standard lighting system and many new facilities like ski jumping ramps and shooting ramps for the biathlon.

The resort is monitored 24/7 by security cameras.Moreover, the popular ski resort is only two kilometers (1.2 miles) away from the city center.

In April 2018, Erzurum applied to host the 2026 Winter Olympics, but it was eliminated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in October.

Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry's annual bulletin shows that almost 87,000 Indians visited Turkey in 2017. The figure swelled to 147,127 in 2018.