Turkey, which in the “post-war” years took first place in terms of tourist attendance, did not stay at the top for long. According to a publication in the Turkish travel press, the country is horrified by the drop in attendance, while most tourists flock to the rival country.
We are talking about Spain – as the Turks said, the occupancy of hotels in the country exceeded “pre-war” records, despite the increase in prices. In Turkey during the high season, hotel occupancy does not reach the expected level and is lower than the level of the previous year.
Citing data from the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE) Hotel Tourism Situation Index, the Turks cite the following figures: The number of overnight stays in hotels in Spain increased by 11% compared to last year, surpassing the figure for 2019.
At the same time, hotel prices increased by 6.3% compared to 2019. Only in July, hotel occupancy was 70%, while hotel prices were on average 129 euros per room, in 4-5* hotels prices were 135 and 299 euros, respectively.
At the same time, hotel occupancy in Turkey has decreased in Istanbul and resorts, the Turks note. According to STR Global, hotel occupancy in Istanbul fell by 8.4% to 73.3% in July. In 2019, it was 81.7%, and last year it reached 80%. At the average price, hotel rooms are higher than in Spain – almost 163 euros, but the increase in prices is less – by 2.7%.
The situation is no better in Antalya. In this resort province, hotel occupancy was 70.5% in July 2023, down 5.6% even last year. At the same time, the price increased by almost 13% and soared to 313 euros.