The main problem with “all-inclusive” hotels has been highlighted in the Turkish press by Hakan Saatçioglu, head of the Association of Professional Hotel Managers. That problem is the large amount of waste, caused by two key factors. The first is the trendy issue of ecology and “sustainable development.” The second, more pressing reason, is that it’s simply very costly, with monthly losses from discarded food amounting to 600,000 Turkish lira. Due to this, hoteliers are ready to call on the government to change the system.
Specifically, Mr. Saatçioglu stated that hotels are working toward sustainable development — for instance, by installing solar power plants and starting to recycle pool water. Part of the motivation behind these efforts is the popularity of the “sustainable tourism” trend among some target audiences, particularly German tourists.
However, sustainability sometimes significantly increases costs. “For example, if we had used plastic bottles for water last year, I would have spent 8 million TL, but on glass bottles, I spent 32 million TL. Most businesses cannot handle these costs,” said the Turkish expert.
However, the biggest issue is the enormous garbage and waste generated by the “all-inclusive” system. For hoteliers, the main concern here is the huge sums of money being thrown away. “The losses have become very serious. We are discarding 300 grams of processed food per person. In a hotel with a thousand guests, that’s 300 kilograms — or 9 tons per month. The cost of this amounts to approximately 600,000 TL,” the Turkish hotelier noted.
“That is why the ‘all-inclusive’ system in Europe will begin to face criticism. Europe is already ready to discuss sustainable development and waste management. We are not yet prepared, but we need to address this issue,” added Mr. Saatçioglu.
He emphasized that the association has already reached out to the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, to express that “we need to rethink our ‘all-inclusive’ system.” “Let’s focus on higher-quality products, but let’s redefine everything within the system. If you want to drink 4 liters of alcohol or eat lamb, no one will stop you. We’ve already factored that into our costs. But we do not account for what remains on the table and ends up in the trash,” he noted. Interestingly, he also mentioned the categories of tourists who primarily contribute to this issue — domestic tourists and visitors from the Middle East.