DEVA Party İzmir MP Ösen stated that Turkey is experiencing difficulties in reaching its tourism targets. He stated that tourism operators are forced to sell below costs due to exchange rate pressure and international political imbalances, and that this situation requires attracting 27 million visitors by the end of the year. Ösen emphasized that if the process continues in this way, the danger of a “concordat” in the tourism sector will increase.
DEVA Party İzmir Deputy Ösen: “We are far from our targets and behind our competitors in tourism”
Evaluating the border statistics for July announced by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism, İzmir Deputy Ösen said, “As the season draws to a close, Turkey needs to attract nearly 27 million visitors to the country by the end of the year in order to meet its targets. It is estimated that tourism operators, who are in a difficult situation just like exporters due to the suppression of the exchange rate, are making sales below their costs for the months of September and October in order to survive the increasing costs, international political instability and possible economic stagnation. If the process continues in this way, the danger of “concordat” in labor-intensive sectors will closely concern businesses in the tourism sector.”
DEVA Party Culture, Art and Tourism Policies Coordinator and Izmir Deputy Seda Kaya Ösen,In his statement to evaluate the border statistics for July, he stated that no harmonious statements were made between the sector representatives and the Ministry. MP Ösen said, “The tourism statistics announced by Turkey for the months of July 2023-2024 show that the process is at a natural increase rate. In July 2024, 7 million 333 thousand 812 foreign visitors entered our country. Compared to the same month of 2023, there was only a 2.6% increase in the number of foreign tourists. It was learned that in the 7-month period between January and July 2024, there was an 8.27% increase in the number of foreign visitors compared to 2023. The most visitors in July came from Germany with 1 million 35 thousand 466 visitors. In January-July 2024, the most visitors came from Russia with 3 million 611 thousand 218 tourists.”
The tourism propaganda presented with the phrases ‘We broke the record’ cannot achieve satisfactory figures when compared to the competitors.”
Ösen, who stated that Turkey fell behind the countries in the Mediterranean basin in tourism in the first 7 months of 2024, used the following expressions in his statement:
“The number of beds and facilities in Turkey is increasing day by day. In this case, the tourism propaganda reflected with the expressions “we broke the record” cannot achieve satisfactory figures when compared to its international competitors. Turkey’s tourism targets for 2024 have been announced as 60 million visitors and 60 billion dollars of income. Greece, our competitor in tourism in the Mediterranean basin with a population of 10 million, hosted 33 million tourists in 2023. Spain, with a population of 47 million, reached 53 million visitors in the first 7 months of 2024. In Turkey, with a population of 85 million, this figure remained around 33 million 470 thousand in the first 7 months.”
“The figures announced by TÜİK, which has lost its element of trust, should be approached with suspicion.”
İzmir Deputy Ösen emphasized that sector representatives are dissatisfied with the year 2024 on the path Turkey set out on with the goal of seasonless tourism, and said, “The fact that high-income tourists have not been fully attracted to Turkey, the lack of educated personnel, excessive emphasis on resort hotels, the inability to achieve sufficient working harmony between the ministry and professional organizations, and the ministry’s approach focused solely on numbers rather than tourism businesses and the future of tourism constitute the impasses of the sector. At this point, it is essential that the data be disclosed transparently and verified if necessary in order to solve the problem. It is also necessary to approach the figures given by TÜİK, which has lost the most fundamental element of trust, with skepticism. At this point, it is useful to remind that TÜİK made changes to the figures under the name of “Main Revision” in the calculation of tourism figures retroactively in 2022.”
