Local experts are calling for radical changes in tourism in Turkey. Hotels on the first line, which “squeeze” the beaches and the coast from society, were called disgusting and suggested that they all be gradually demolished and rebuilt. Professor Ilber Ortayly made such a radical statement in the Turkish press.
“Recent policies in this field in Turkey contradict the understanding of sustainable tourism. Such tourism cannot be a solution and salvation for Turkey. If in the future Turkey will consciously focus on tourism, these buildings will be demolished,” said the professor. According to him, the policy of “random development” that destroys forests and coasts must be stopped.
“The tourist policy of the last period has turned into “castle tourist objects. It is not clear why, as in Chad, huge hotels are being built that have no one to fill them. And where they are filled, other problems are the growth of diseases due to water problems, which are again related to the sharp growth of the elderly population in the cities of the Aegean coast and the Mediterranean,” he said.
He also stated that “Turkey lags far behind even General Frank’s Spain in terms of social understanding and law enforcement,” the Turkish professor is confident. Since in Spain at that time the beaches remained open to everyone – hotels were forced to build houses far from the beach strip and display their sunbeds on the beach without blocking access to other tourists.
“The nature and the coast of Spain benefited a lot from this. Our hotels are solid fences that cover the coast – as in the model of Belek, Antalya, and other resorts. In the future, if Turkey does not act as unconsciously as it did today, these buildings will be demolished,” the expert assured.
He emphasized that this will repel some tourists, but there is hope that tourists will “turn to the beautiful nature and historical monuments of the region.” In addition, he emphasized that a country with a population of 80 million people cannot rely on tourism as the main branch of the “national economy”.