‘We suffer more severely from the pandemic’

The tourism sector, which started the year with a turnover of 56 billion dollars and a goal of 60 million tourists, drew attention to the fact that the earthquake and the electoral processes and the end of the season caused irreparable injuries. Although the number of tourists was 1.8 million in February and 2.3 million in March, representatives of the sector indicated that they expect the season to be fully open by June.

rumored enough

Noting that the Russo-Ukrainian war and the earthquake, which occurred after the pandemic in 2020, deeply affected the sector, the vice president of the Turkish Hoteliers Association, Gift Güral Gür, said: “Tourism is constantly being slapped in the face . The psychological effect after the earthquake had a profound economic effect on us. It caused irreparable economic wounds in February and March in both the domestic and foreign markets. Maybe we had worse February and March than we have seen during the pandemic period,” he said.

Stating that all precautions should be taken against earthquakes, however discussions about the Istanbul earthquake continue to affect bookings in the sector, Gür said: “Especially the fact that the Istanbul earthquake is being talked about from above, it is almost as much as the earthquake, and it closely worries and affects the tourism of Istanbul and other provinces fed by Istanbul. When we look at Istanbul, it seems as if it is the only city, but tourists who come to Istanbul go to Konya, they go to Cappadocia, they go to Sapanca, they go to the nearby cities, they go to Yalova. In other words, there are many other cities that Istanbul feeds,” he said.

Stating that the activity started on the reserves coming from abroad, but the sector needs support, Gür said that tourism does not consist only of the Aegean and the Mediterranean, and the Tourism Development Agency should also attach importance to urban and cultural tourism. in promotions. .

Domestic tourists are waiting for the election.

Noting that the last-minute habit started in Turkey, especially in domestic tourists, Gural Gür said, “Especially with the pandemic, everyone started making a last-minute decision as they didn’t know what to expect. Now there is a choice, I have to wait and see. This is true in both corporate business and individual business. As a result, on May 15, whether person a wins or person b wins, life is somewhere to go on, but people have a psychological waiting situation.

Prices rose 35 percent

Explaining that the sector could not reflect costs in prices, Mr. Güral Gür stated that they are constantly changing the menu, especially due to rising food prices. Stating that there was a 180 percent increase in energy costs from last year to this year, but that they were able to increase hotel prices by 35 percent, Gür claimed that the exchange rate, which they expected in the level of 25 TL, it remained below 20 TL, which affected its income.

Stating that with the money paid to a 5-star hotel in Turkey, only a vacation can be made in a 3-star hotel abroad, Gür said: “We have an image problem for the country. If we get past this, our prices will actually go up,” he said.