Campaign sees rush of early holiday bookings in Turkey

By Ahmet Bayram

IZMIR, Turkey

A campaign to boost domestic tourism in Turkey has seen 2.6 million holiday reservations made in the last two months, the Turkish Hoteliers Federation (TUROFED) said Monday.

The early reservation campaign was launched on Dec. 12 in a bid to revitalize the tourism industry by offering discounts of up to 50 percent, customer-friendly payment plans and cheaper flight options.

“The number of early reservations that we received for the first five months last year was about 5.4 million,” federation Vice President Mehmet Isler told Anadolu Agency. “We are more optimistic this year.

“In 2017, we'll see how important the domestic market is for the tourism sector and how it shows resistance against crises. I expect it to reach over five million again.”

The last two years have seen a slump in the number of foreign tourists coming to Turkey. According to the Culture and Tourism Ministry, 36.8 million foreigners visited Turkey in 2014, which fell to 25.4 million last year.

Income from foreign tourists dropped from $27.8 billion in 2014 to $25.4 billion in 2015, according to the latest data from Turkey Is Bank.

TUROFED hopes domestic tourists will help counter this decline, particularly in early bookings. Isler said foreigners usually made reservations at least a year in advance to take advantage of price discounts while Turks typically booked their holidays at the last minute, especially in high season.

Cem Polatoglu, a spokesman for Turkish tour operators, said the weakening of the Turkish lira, high discounts and the “national stance” of Turks looking to support their own tourist industry had reinforced domestic tourism.

He added that most early reservations made since December were for hotels and resorts on the Mediterranean coast in July and August. The early reservation campaign continues until May 31.

According to the Investment, Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey, the country is the world’s sixth most popular tourist destination, attracting more than 30 million tourists annually. The country’s tourism sector is growing year-on-year, the agency added.

Despite “smear campaigns” portraying Turkey as an unsafe destination, the agency’s figures show above average growth in the tourism sector in recent years.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently said Turkey aimed to attract eight million extra tourists in a campaign to boost earnings from tourism to $50 billion.

The Bring Your Neighbor and Come project is focused on persuading Turks living abroad to spend their holidays in Turkey, bringing their non-Turkish neighbors with them. It also encourages Turks based in countries such as Germany and the Netherlands to return to Turkey for family occasions such as weddings.

According to Erdogan, 14 years of Justice and Development (AK) Party rule has seen the number of foreign tourists rise from 13 million to 40 million, with earnings from tourism leaping from $12.5 billion to $31.5 billion.