Hopes in Turkish tourism sector raised

According to tour operators, reservation demands from foreign tour operators have restarted.
The Tourism Ministry announced that the Iraq war had nearly come to an end and they had launched a worldwide promotion campaign in central European countries and to independent states — to be expanded to up to 50 countries within two weeks. The ministry stressed that Turkish tourism was hampered due to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, but it did not last long and the sector was not considerably affected.

Due to the positive signal of war ending in Iraq, nearly 15 million tourists are expected to spend their holidays in Turkey and it is expected that those tourists will spend $13 billion in Turkey. In the 2002 season, around 13.2 million tourist came to Turkey and ensured an income of $8.4 billion. According to future projections in the tourism sector, Turkey expects 25 million tourists and an income of $20 billion for this sector.

Mehmet Akal Imre, chairman of Kusadasi Union of Hotel Owners, said that reservations were increasing. Pointing out that the Iraq war initially affected their expectations, Imre said, "The Iraq war is almost at an end, this will positively affect Turkish tourism. Our expectations have come alive."

Stating that last year 320 passenger ships stopped by Kusadasi, Imre said that this year they expected 350 or 400 passenger ships to stop in Kusadasi. "Besides these positive signals, Turkey should be removed from the list of risky countries. The Tourism Ministry also should promote Turkey abroad effectively."

Imre stressed that tour operators had asked them to discount recommended prices. However, such decreases would affect the quality. "There should not be any decrease in prices," Imre added.

Talking about the virus SARS affecting China, Imre said, "This virus would affect Chinese tourism badly and tourists who were thinking of going to China have cancelled their reservations. This has also benefited Turkish tourism."

Turkey’s Union of Tourism Agencies (TURSAB) Bodrum branch chairman Huseyin Yilmaz said, "Due to the Iraq war, reservations were stopped or delayed. We have lost the month of May, but we are hopeful for the rest of the season."

Pointing out that signals coming from abroad were good, Yilmaz said, "Negative affects of the war have disappeared. We expect livening up in the tourism sector." Talking about the fatal SARS virus affecting China, Yilmaz said, "The virus SARS is affecting Chinese tourism and, of course, Turkey can get a share from these cancelled reservations in China."

The Chairman of Cesme Union of Hotel Owners Veysi Onal stressed that those irrecoverable cancelled flights would affect Turkish tourism. "Of course, the Iraq war ending early would affect positively. However due to the Iraq war, some foreign tour operators cancelled their flights irrevocably. This will be bad for Turkish tourism."

"A foreign tour operator that planned to bring 20,000 tourists to Cesme before the Iraq war cancelled their flights to Cesme because of this war. Unfortunately, we lost the month of May. But we are working to recover it," said Onal.