If the current price policy is maintained, Turkey will never reach the declared goal in terms of the number of tourists. She already expected that tourists leave Turkey and choose Egypt because of the significant price difference. And there is a risk that the situation will only worsen. This is how the Turkish publication Yeniakit quotes the words of the general director of Sager Travel, Dogan Sager.
“For example, the price of a 4-day package at a luxury hotel in Antalya is 100,000 TL, while a 4-day package at the same chain hotel in Egypt costs 24,000 TL, so tourists leave Turkey and go to Egypt.” – he declared.
At the same time, according to him, even last year inspired optimism – after all the difficulties experienced during the pandemic, the 2022 season was very fruitful in all respects. But 2023 will be much more difficult.
Among the main reasons, the expert named the “incorrect and inconsistent pricing policy of many hotels”, as well as the inability to prepare new visiting routes and the inability to effectively conduct advertising and marketing activities abroad. For all these reasons, the achievement of the goal announced by the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, is highly doubtful: “In the tourism sector, it is planned to receive an income of 100 billion dollars within 5 years.”
“We cannot achieve this goal with our current tourism policy. For example, the price of a 4-night package in a luxury hotel in Antalya is 100,000 lira, while the same chain hotel in Egypt costs 24,000 lire for a 4-night package, so tourists leave Turkey and go to Egypt. When making a budget, we also have to look at the prices of competing countries. Moreover, we must change our pricing policy, taking into account the economic structure of the countries that visit us, so that the tourists who come to us prefer our country in the first place,” said Mr. Sager. At the same time, he separately emphasized that it is not about the fact that the prices should be reduced to a minimum, but they should be balanced with the demand of tourists and their ability to pay.
He also criticized the “all-inclusive” concept. “Foreign tourists who come with the all-inclusive hotel concept applied in the Aegean and Mediterranean regions never leave the hotel for 10 days. Days of rest. Almost no one goes out to see Aspendos, Antalya’s historic castle, and Manavgat waterfall. I am not saying that a tourist should not go to the sea, but the tour package sold should include a cultural tourism program so that the tourist can talk about our historical beauty when he returns to his country,” said the expert, but then he returned to the “sick issue” of prices.
“We need to take into account that the world is currently experiencing a large-scale economic crisis. Even those who do not have financial difficulties are looking for tour packages with a smaller budget in other countries. If we are lucky, we will receive hardly 60% of the number of tourists we brought in 2022,” said Mr. Sager, emphasizing that the conclusions have already been made in practice.
“The summer season in tourism usually starts on April 15 and lasts until October 15. If it is the end of June outside, and the season in Antalya has not yet started, then this is a serious problem. In all regions, we were well below expectations in April, May, and June. The only thing we can hope for is that we will not face this in the remaining months and that our industry will see the number of tourists it deserves,” the expert concluded.