Representatives of the Turkish tourist industry are dissatisfied with the way the beginning of the tourist season is shaping up, Cumhuriyet writes. According to the President of the Association of Professional Hotel Managers of Bodrum, Serdar Karcilyoglu, as of the end of April, only 60% of hotels on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts accept tourists, while usually 80% are open at this time. According to the head of the association, there is a sharp drop in demand.
In the urban hotel segment, the trend is particularly noticeable in Istanbul, where occupancy has fallen by 40%. Even during the recent holidays dedicated to the end of Ramadan, they were empty. The President of the Association of Small Hotels Ertan Ustaoglu cited the following figures: on holidays, occupancy fluctuated between 50-70%.
Hoteliers name several reasons for this situation. On the one hand, due to the effects of the earthquake, fewer foreign tourists come. According to the data provided in the article, the number of bookings for holidays in Istanbul for 2 nights or more decreased by 31% compared to 2019. On the other hand, prices increased by 50%, which led to a decrease in purchasing power on the part of the inhabitants of Turkey itself. Many of them have abandoned plans to celebrate the end of Ramadan in hotels. According to Serdar Karcilyoglu, one should not count on domestic tourists until the Turkish economy copes with the consequences of the earthquake.
In addition, according to the president of the Turkish Hotel Association, Müberr Erezin, earlier during the holiday period, hotels in Istanbul were filled with guests from other Middle Eastern countries, but this year they came less due to shorter holidays.
The publication reports that the not very good results of the first four months of this year cast doubt on the plans of the Turkish government to receive 60 million tourists and receive $ 56 billion in tourism revenue.
In this situation, Turkish businessmen rely on the Russian market. According to the President of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies Firuz Baglykaya, there will be no problems if tourists from Russia come to rest, “who form the basis of Turkey’s tourism.”