The number of foreign tourists in hotels in Turkey fell by 40-50% – Turkish hotels admitted this. Moreover, some markets are practically lost. The reason for the increase in prices is that Turkey has overtaken Egypt, caught up with Spain, and is almost approaching the level of prices in Italy, hoteliers assure. As a result, the country cannot attract additional tourists. And the industry “is in a great paradox,” as local experts comment.
In particular, this was stated by the head of the tourism commission of the Kusadasi municipality, tourism manager Fahrettin Çiçek. Early bookings collapsed due to the earthquakes and the election, he says — and the industry has never recovered since: “After the election, we were left with a ‘last minute customer. At the same time, we encountered the inflexibility of hotels in their short-term price limits. As a result, many of our hotels struggle with low occupancy during the high season. The industry is in a great paradox.” The expert also added that since Egypt became a destination that can compete with Turkey in terms of price, the country has lost many customers in all market segments.
“Those who came from abroad were shocked to see that the prices here are equivalent to the prices in their own country. As a result, the number of tourists from abroad decreased by 40-50%,” added Engen Choban, manager of a hotel in Didima.
And the member of the board of the Association of Hoteliers and Investors of Kusadasi, Serdar Keroglu, said that the occupancy of star tourist facilities decreased by 10-15% compared to 2022.
“The main reason for the decrease in occupancy is the increase in our prices. We are currently close to Italian prices. We have increased hotel prices and all other prices by 15-25% in euros because inflation in the Turkish lira has been very high, as a result, we have overtaken Egypt in terms of prices, almost overtaken Spain, and are approaching Italian prices,” he said. As a result, according to experts, Turkey is losing some markets — in particular, Iran and Romania — tourists from there are going to Egypt and Dubai.