After hosting earthquake survivors in its hotels in Antalya for months, Hakan Sacıoğlu, coordinator for Limak International Hotels and Resorts, hopes his rooms will soon be filled with tourists now that the government has relocated the temporary guests. Sacıoğlu noted that "the government has fulfilled its promise, raising the hopes of hotel owners by moving the earthquake survivors to guesthouses, which calmed fears that hotel rooms would not be available for tourists as the peak summer season approaches."
In an interview with Reuters, Olivier Bonté, vice president of Forward Keys, stated that "after an excellent performance for months when the country led travel recovery in Europe post-COVID, it is clear that international tourism to Turkey is declining." Despite a recent increase in bookings across the European travel sector, Turkey has not been able to regain momentum.
Upcoming Elections
The elections scheduled for May 14 are also leading to tourist hesitance in visiting the country due to fears of potential unrest during this critical election period, wherein President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan faces his biggest political challenge in his two-decade rule. Officials in the tourism sector believe that a potential return to the number of visitors expected before the earthquake may occur after the elections, especially with the rise in summer travel demand to Turkey.
Hope in Resorts
Since the epicenter of the earthquake was in the city of Kahramanmaraş in the southeast of the country, the tourist resorts were not affected, a factor that raised hopes for recovery supported by an influx of Russian tourists. According to data from Antalya authorities, the number of foreign arrivals to the popular Mediterranean resort area increased by 54% in March year-on-year, reaching a record number.
Against this optimistic backdrop, the Turkish government anticipates achieving $56 billion in tourism revenues this year. Turkish Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy stated that "Ankara remains committed to achieving the pre-earthquake target, despite its repercussions."
