Turkey’s tourism sector, which is gradually recovering from the consequences of the pandemic, started concluding hotel contracts for 2023 a month earlier – in August instead of September-October. However, the contracts between hotels and tour operators now include a price increase of 20-50%, and this is not in the Turkish lira, whose exchange rate is constantly falling, but in foreign currency. This means that there will be no cheap tours to Turkey next year, and not only because of air transportation, which has become more expensive as it was this summer, but precisely because of expensive hotels.
Despite the geopolitical upheavals in Europe and the war in Ukraine, Turkish hotels are actively selling rooms for the next season. In particular, Turkey is seeing consistently high interest from British and German tourists, especially during the cold winter period. This explains the early conclusion of contracts for the next season. Hotels, which saw price increases of 10-15 percent last year, said they see a high demand for contracts to be signed with travel agencies next year, Turizmajansi reported.
An increase of at least 20% in foreign currency
Tourism experts, who reported high demand for vacations from abroad, mainly from Europe, said that new hotel contracts for 2023 are being concluded at higher prices – the price increase is at least 20 percent in foreign currency. In some hotels and areas, the increase reaches 50 percent. For Ukrainian tourists, if the dollar rises, it means an even higher price increase for vacations in their beloved Turkey.
Turkish Hoteliers Federation (TÜROFED) Vice President Bülent Bülbüloglu said that they have started signing contracts for 2023: “2023 looks very good. If nothing critical happens in the world, I think we will set records in Turkey and the resort province of Mugla.”
At the same time, the publication quoted the words of Osman Benois, the owner of a travel company that supplies tourists from Germany to Turkish resorts. According to him, the spiral of price growth has not yet ended. “In the 2023 season, prices for resort holidays will be 15-20 percent higher than this year. People will continue to go on vacation, but the length of vacation may be shortened due to rising prices,” the expert summarized.