The tourism sector closes the deficit in autumn

The tourism sector will accelerate its season in autumn, after the news about the great earthquake in February and the expected earthquake in Istanbul, leaving the elections for the second round in May. Tourism professionals, who especially withdrew their expectations of vacations in Istanbul, drew attention to the fact that the travel of Middle Eastern tourists in July-August is at a key point. The sector, which maintains its revenue goals of $56 billion with 60 million tourists expected for this year, emphasized that it will determine the goals of last-minute vacationers and the number of foreign tourists that will arrive in autumn and July.

INTENSITY IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER

Noting that tourists from the Middle East flocked to Istanbul during the holidays, especially at the city’s hotels, Turkish Hoteliers Association President Müberra Eresin said local tourists showed interest in the beaches. Eresin said: “Turkish citizens in Turkey will culturally travel to Cappadocia, Konya and Bursa, but we put the past aside despite everything, the bad days are over, we believe we will have a week full of tourism,” Eresin said of the goals. of the sector. : Reservations started for about a week and got faster. The season seems to have started late, but we are already working towards November, December and January, and we are planning to close that gap there. We think September, October and November will be very busy.”

Orkun Petekçi, CEO of Elite World Hotels, stated that they also saw the negative impact of the earthquake on foreign tourists. Stating that Istanbul’s main market is the Middle East at the moment and that they did not see much development, Petekçi said, “We had to lower our expectations for Bayram. Occupancy rates are around 60 percent,” he said.

Europe prefers to travel within the union

Recep Arifoglu

Recep Arifoğlu, a board member of the Turkish Hoteliers Association, said that Istanbul receives tourists from different regions during the holiday period, but prices are still high compared to domestic tourists. Explaining that they expect a resurgence in tourism after the holidays, Arifoğlu said, “Hotels in Istanbul are 72 percent full. Since there are now last-minute bookings, it will most likely increase to 84 percent. European tourist arrivals should not be fully compared. Because the number of trips in them is very high. That’s why they came to us, ”he said.