The current weekend in Turkey marked the beginning of the long Kurban Bayram holiday, which lasts 9 days. Since the beginning of the week, Turkish resorts have been filled with vacationers: Turks and foreign tourists. But along with the festive mood came problems. The blogger shared her impressions of the holiday horror at the resorts of Turkey in her blog on the social network.
Crowds of vacationers do not push through
With the beginning of Kurban Bayram, there is a sharp increase in vacationers at the resorts of Turkey due to large-scale weekends. First, residents en masse go on holiday to the coastal regions, driving there in tens of thousands of cars. So, over the past three days, more than 110,000 cars entered the Mugla province (Bodrum, Marmaris, Fethiye, etc.), and more than 60,000 cars entered Bodrum. Even the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, spends the weekend with his family on his own ” dacha” in Marmaris, the blogger reported. In short, all of Turkey went on vacation.
In addition to domestic tourists, foreign travelers also fly to the main resort province of the country – the vacation season is in full swing. For example, only on June 24, Saturday, the record of international air transport arrivals was broken – 91,000 guests.
Problems at resorts
With the increase in the number of vacationers at the resorts, certain problems arose. The central areas of Alanya are crowded with people, which leads to a certain chaos. One of the tourists reported that the car driver could not find a parking space and left his car in the middle of the road. Tourists also started posting photos and videos of trash left on beaches and parks. All this creates a negative impression of a resort vacation and spoils the general atmosphere. “Let’s leave the walks around Alanya and Cleopatra for after the holidays. Experience shows that at this time the city’s population grows by several hundred thousand. And people often behave inappropriately, – said the author. “It’s easy to imagine what horror will be after the holidays.”
With over-tourism comes problems on the roads. Many people are willing to use public, taxi, or personal transport. The result is predictable – traffic jams, conflicts, and accidents.
Another pain of Turkish tourism, oriented not only to Muslims, has not gone anywhere. It is about the processing of sacrificial animals. During the holiday, many Turks process them and, in the old-fashioned way, the remains and remains from them are not properly disposed of, but simply thrown out into the street. This leads to the appearance of the smell of decomposition from garbage and skin, which negatively affects the general atmosphere in the resorts. And if tourists who are not used to seeing such things look into the quarters of the private houses of local people, they will be completely shocked, because the whole process of processing is like in the palm of your hand: hanging carcasses, flowing blood and a characteristic smell of heat.
Changes in the work schedule
In connection with the mass holiday of Kurban Bayram, some shops and pharmacies have changed their working hours. For example, until July 2, pharmacies will be open only on duty, and information about their location can be found in the windows of pharmacy points. Some shops plan to open later than usual, and the BİM market, popular with tourists, decided to take a break on June 28 and 29.
Inadequate behavior and other troubles
The blogger gave several examples. For example, in Gazipasa, a Russian couple decided to make a joke, saying that one of them had drowned in the sea. This raised the alarm and the police and coast guard were called. However, after searching, it turned out that it was just a joke, the purpose of which remained unclear.
Also during the holidays in the city of Cesme, one of the most expensive and oldest resorts, located 80 km west of Izmir, on the peninsula of the same name and opposite the Greek island of Chios, the locals decided to make extra money on the holidays by raising the price of a public toilet to 50 lire (70 UAH. at the current exchange rate), and in Bodrum the prices for renting sunbeds have increased even more – as the author noted, “it seems that only millionaires can sunbathe on sunbeds there.” In addition, taxi prices have increased in the province of Antalya, including Alanya.
Background: Eid al-Adha, also known as the Feast of the Sacrifice or Eid al-Adha, 2023 falls from June 27 to July 1. It is one of the most important religious holidays in Turkey, which is celebrated by Muslims all over the world in memory of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham).