“The season has saddened us,” Kaan Cavaloglu, president of the Association of Hoteliers and Tour Operators of the Mediterranean (AKTOV), expressed this assessment at the end of the first summer month in Antalya. And the first reason for this disappointment is that Russian tourists stop going to Turkey – the most optimistic statements suggest that about half of their “expected” number will come. And the European markets, which are on the rise, will not compensate for the losses of the Russians.
“The season, which started late due to climatic conditions, disappointed us. When we look at occupancy, some of our hotels are full, but some are unable to achieve sufficient occupancy,” he said. Not least the reason that the number of Russian tourists coming to Turkey is decreasing.
“There are losses in the Russian market, Russian tourists prefer Dubai and Egypt to Turkey. It must be stated that only 50% of Russian tourists who came in 2019 will make it to Turkey. We want the number of Russians to remain the same as last year in 2023, but it seems that this will not be possible. In this case, our work becomes a little more difficult, because it is difficult for us to find alternative markets,” he said. The expert also added that it is difficult to compensate for the decline of Russians with growth in European markets.
Although the same British are trying. Mr. Cavaloglu said that Antalya is on the rise in the UK market. “The number of British tourists in Antalya exceeded 1 million people for the first time last year. England helped to compensate for the losses that remained after the decline in the flow of tourists from the Russian market. We expect 1.5 million British tourists to visit Antalya this year.”