Every year in summer, there is so much crowd on the Turkish beaches that there is no place to keep a towel. But this year the scene has become different.
According to government figures, the profit from
tourism has increased in the second quarter of the year. Compared to last year,
the profit has increased by 12 percent and the number of tourists has increased
by 15 percent.
But the condition of Turkey's tourism sector is
completely different from this government figure and the pace of the tourism
sector in Turkey has slowed down.
This is the first time in years that hotel rooms are
vacant in the month of July.
This time only a maximum of 60 percent of the total
hotel rooms have been booked. During the
season in Turkey, 95 percent of the total hotel rooms are booked.
After Corona, the number of tourists in countries
around the world had decreased. But after the removal of Corona-related
restrictions, the number of foreign tourists is increasing every year.
But this is not the case with Turkey.
Compared to other tourist destinations on the
Mediterranean coast, the number of tourists visiting Turkey is very less. It
seems that foreign tourists are choosing other places with less expenses.
One reason for the loss to hotels is that inflation
has gone out of control in Turkey. Due to this, local people are not able to
travel even within the country.
The result - empty hotel rooms. There is a place
called Cezme in the west of Turkey. Here, Nur Daman is the owner of a hotel.
Nur Daman says, "I am able to fill the rooms of
my hotel only because our hotel is on the seashore. Other hotels which are in
the middle of the city are struggling. We all have to reduce the rent of our
rooms. Electricity bills and other expenses have increased rapidly."
According to official figures, the inflation rate in
Turkey is 61.8 percent.
Noor believes that even the Turkish residents who live
in Europe have not come to the country for holidays this time.
Turkish government officials believe that many big
sports events or tournaments have taken place in Europe. This has also led to a
decrease in the number of people coming to Turkey.
Germany hosted Euro 2024, the UEFA European Football
Championship. Due to this, six lakh additional foreign tourists were expected
to come.
The Paris Olympics lasted for three weeks and due to
this more than 1 crore 10 lakh tourists visited Paris.
Turkey's Culture and Tourism Minister Nuri Ersoy says
that the situation will remain the same till September and the number of
tourists will increase only gradually.