One of the most experienced tour operators for holidays in Turkey is demanding urgent action by Ankara to stimulate demand on the German and other source markets.
Kadir Ugur, owner of Bentour Reisen, criticised Turkey’s tourism marketing strategy and listed urgent measures in a colourfully-worded open letter to the country’s government. He said he and business partners already warned Ankara at the end of 2014 about a forthcoming crisis in tourism but the government had failed to respond.
“I always saw advertising as the seeds and fertiliser for tourism,” he wrote. “A country might be very good, but if you do not sow and fertilise, then the quality and quantity of the harvest will decline.”
He criticised former tourism minister ?mer Celik for paying attention to “other matters” but not to tourism, while his successor Mahir ?nal had proven himself dynamic and prepared to tackle problems but was recently replaced. “We’re now all waiting for the actions of the new minister Nabi Avci,” Ugur said.
The Bentour chief listed a series of practical measure to help stimulate demand for Turkey. He said marketing spending should be increased, not reduced, and called for an advertising budget of €150 million for Western European markets.
The current subsidies for charter flights to Antalya are confusing and should be simplified and extended to cover flights to Istanbul and Kayseri in Cappadocia, according to Ugur. “With the cancellation of many conferences, the hotels in Istanbul face disastrous times, and the situation is similar in Cappadocia.”
Ugur also called for structural changes, including fixed marketing subsidies per passenger, a well-organised crisis management centre and more decision-making autonomy for the ministry’s branches, including the foreign tourist offices.
Meanwhile, an informal reader survey on fvw.de found that 60% of the 168 respondents expect the terror attack at Istanbul’s Atat?rk Airport to impact on demand for Turkey as a whole, while only 20% said that the beach destinations would not be affected and a further 20% said forecasts are impossible to make at present.
Read more here.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
