Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy met with tourism sector representatives and NGOs in Bodrum. Tourism is Just Culture and
Speaking at the “Bodrum Tourism Sector and Non-Governmental Organizations Meeting” program held in a hotel in Bodrum district of Muğla, Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that 2023 will be a year full of records despite everything, and 2024 will be a year where they will embrace new records in terms of tourism. He said it would happen.
Minister Ersoy also drew attention to the importance of the March 31 elections and said, “These elections are very, very important. “As we elect our metropolitan mayors and district mayors, know that we are also choosing our future.” said.
Pointing out the importance of archaeological values, Ersoy said, “We started 12-month excavation programs on archeology in the 5-year period. We said, “In the new era, we need to go much faster” and we started the legacy project for the future. We set very ambitious goals. We said, “We will accomplish the same amount of work in the next 4 years as we have done in the world of archeology in the last 60 years.” he said.
“40 PERCENT OF THE PIE IS MARMARA, 40 PERCENT IS MEDITERRANEAN, 10 PERCENT IS AEGEAN…”
Referring to tourism figures and distribution in Turkey, Ersoy said:
“40 percent of the cake is distributed in Marmara, 40 percent in the Mediterranean, 10 percent in the Aegean and the remaining 10 percent in the Black Sea and other parts of Anatolia. Especially when we look at the Aegean, we see that its share of the pie is much lower than it should be. I will be stopping by today to kick off the archaeological future heritage project in the Stratonikeia, Lagina and Labranda regions. From there I will go to Marmaris. We need to implement such investments quickly.
“TOURISM IS NOT A SECTOR THAT CAN ONLY BE WITH THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND TOURISM”
Bodrum is the most developed region in the world, which hosts the richest tourist groups. Bodrum is a great treasure, but we have neither the infrastructure nor the superstructure to serve them. That’s why tourism is not a sector that can only be possible with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. “Tourism is a sector that the entire region should embrace, and local governments should implement joint projects and cooperate with the central government.”
“If we are a tourism city, we must ask for tourism master plans from the candidates in the local government elections,” said Ersoy, adding, “Tourism master plans are the subject of the metropolitan municipality. The metropolitan municipality is responsible for the plans and is responsible for both infrastructures and superstructures. As the Ministry, we will definitely provide support while the master plan is implemented. “These plans are prepared as plans for an average of 50 years,” he said.
Minister Ersoy underlined that the season should first be spread over 12 months and that the contribution of the master plan in this sense would be important.
Ersoy continued his speech as follows:
“Crises taught us market diversity. Countries without market diversity are very negatively affected by crises. We started to overcome major crises after we started to immunize our sector. Istanbul Airport is the largest airport in the world. Turkish Airlines is one of the world’s leading airlines. It has direct flights to more than 300 cities. No airline in the world offers direct flights to so many cities. What was the result of this? We started to receive tourists from all over the world. It comes primarily to Istanbul and also to Bodrum, Marmaris and Antalya. The more we diversify air traffic and the stronger we make our airlines, the more immune we will be to crises. In order for air traffic to occur, the supply and demand balance must be maintained.
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We need to plan and realize the future tourism potential in different seasons for 12 months with our tourism master plans. I always say it, and I’ll say it here too. These elections are very, very important. As we elect our metropolitan mayors and district mayors, know that we are also choosing our future. We will not be of any benefit to our city by making ideological decisions alone. “Please question whose projects you believe in, who is carrying out projects related to our sector, and vote according to whoever satisfies you.”
“WE SEE BODRUM AS THE BRAND FACE OF TURKEY”
Stating that they do not see Bodrum just as Bodrum, Ersoy said, “We see it as the brand face of Turkey. We see it as a promotional face. Bodrum is an attraction point of Turkey for qualified tourists and we want to make good use of this situation. All I ask from you is to support and help us. We are developing many projects in line with the steps you will take, but many of our projects are rejected as direct profit projects without being listened to or for political reasons. “Somehow the projects get locked,” he said.
