“We are concerned about the 2024 season,” said tourism experts from Antalya. Mass cancellations of reservations have begun at a popular Turkish resort.
Tourists from the Middle East are canceling reservations, and the reason for this is the situation in and around Israel. According to local experts in the tourism market, the Turkish publication Turizm Ajansi quotes, the cancellations started both from the side of Israeli tourists and tourists from other countries of the region, primarily from Lebanon.
“Flights with Israel, which is one of the countries that send the largest number of tourists to Antalya by air, have been suspended for some time, and the date of their renewal is not known to anyone,” experts explained.
The current situation already affects the summer season of 2024. As Muhammet Inji, a representative of a hotel in the Konyaalta district, stated: “Currently, there are no Israeli guests in our hotel. However, among the reservations we received for the new period from March to April, there were already guests from Israel. But now we have already received 5 requests to cancel the reservation,” he said.
As Ismail Çaglar, general manager of a 5-star hotel in the Kundu region, added, about 500,000 guests from Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon came to Antalya this year. However, according to the hotelier’s forecasts, the situation “will clearly have a negative impact on the next season.”
“Sales and marketing activities begin in the winter months. And we don’t know how to promote our services in the Middle East now. Moreover, even in the European market, a trend towards a decrease in the activity of tourists towards Turkey can be seen,” Çaglar assessed.