CEMRE PARILTI KARACA
The stability in the exchange rate started to have an impact on tourism, which is another branch of foreign exchange earning, as well as exports.
The tourism branch, which said that the gap in the middle of sales prices has narrowed too much with the rising costs, underlined that a loss of tourists in the middle of 5-10 percent may also be experienced because they cannot make price reductions in competition.
According to the statements of the Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, 60 million tourists and 56 billion dollars of income are targeted in the tourism department this year.
Bülent Bülbüloğlu, Deputy Leader of the Turkish Hoteliers Federation (TÜROFED), said that due to high inflation, their costs approached the selling price and said, “The rate of increase in the exchange rate close to inflation will be much better for us.”
Bülbüloğlu stated that Turkey has a very large volume in package types and is in the same position as Spain in this regard.
Stating that Turkey is the cheapest country in the world in the ‘all inclusive’ system, Bülbüloğlu said that the narrowing of the price gap in the middle makes competition difficult.
Bülbüloğlu said, “When we look at the dollar and sterling, the annual increase is around 30 percent. However, the annual accommodation cost has reached 300 percent. When we say power costs and minimum price increase, our costs have almost come to the selling price.”
Spain has become cheaper than Turkey in package variety
Spain, the biggest rival of Turkish tourism, has become cheaper than Turkey in package types.
The British Consumers’ Association compared the one-week package prices of the top seven destinations on Travel-Supermarket.com.
According to the research, the cheapest one-week package of medicine for the UK during the summer is in Spain. According to the research, Turkey is more valuable to the British than Spain, while Greece is in a cheaper position.
“There may be a 5-10 percent loss in the number of tourists”
Pronto Tour Executive Committee Leader Ali Onaran said that tourists going to Spain had to pay more prices than Turkey, but competitiveness decreased due to the decrease in the middle point.
Onaran said, “Our only competitor is not Spain, we have valuable competitors such as Greece, Italy and France. Agencies and hotels cannot offer discounts due to costs. Therefore, since the price gap in the middle narrows, the competitiveness rate is also decreasing,” he said.
Stating that the Turkish tourism sector can compete with these countries in terms of service, Onaran mentioned that the increasing inflation and the constant exchange rate affect the tourism sector.
“We need to focus on tourism revenues, not the number of tourists”
Bodrum Professional Hoteliers Association Honorary Leader Serdar Karcılıoğlu said that the ‘ultra all-inclusive’ price in Turkey is compared to the half board price in Spain, but the profit margin of the Spanish hotel and the profit margin of the hotel in Turkey should be looked at. Karcılıoğlu said, “Turkey’s tourism sector is measured by the number of tourists. It turns out that if we focus on revenues and overnight accommodation and make improvements in this regard, the department will have no problems. We take the number of tourists to the country as a basis and count success. This is a very wrong situation.”
Tourism revenue increased by 27.1 percent in the third quarter of 2022
According to the information of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), tourism income in the third quarter of 2022 increased by 27.1 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year and reached 17 billion 952 million 361 thousand dollars. 14.3% of tourism income was obtained from citizens residing abroad who visited Turkey.
According to the same data, visitors organized their travels personally or through package medicine.
12 billion 562 million 557 thousand dollars of the expenditures made in this quarter was personal expenditures and 5 billion 389 million 804 thousand dollars was package medicine expenditures.
