200,000 people to lose jobs as hot tourism season ends in Turkey

ANTALYA - Anadolu Agency

Some 70 percent of tourist facilities will be closed very soon, resulting in the loss of around 200,000 jobs. DHA photo

Some 70 percent of tourist facilities will be closed in the Mediterranean province of Antalya as the hot tourism season ends, resulting in the loss of around 200,000 jobs, said the head of Turkey’s Hoteliers Federation (TÜROFED), Osman Ayık.

“Some 70 percent of big tourist facilities, which employ 300,000 people, will be closed by the end of the month. This means around 200,000 people will lose their jobs to wait for the opening of the next season,” he said. He noted that the number of tourists had increased by 8 percent this year compared to the previous year’s figures.

Turkey’s tourism income increased to $11.5 billion in the third quarter of this year, a rise of 4.7 percent from the same period of the previous year, the Turkish Statistics Agency (TÜİK) revealed on Nov. 1.

According to the World Tourism Organization 2013 report on global tourism, Turkey ranked third in increasing tourism revenues for the first eight months of 2013 with an increase of 22 percent, compared to the same period of the previous year.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s banking watchdog (BDDK) plans to limit domestic tourism expenditures on hire-purchase with credit cards to encourage more controlled use of credit cards. “As tourism representatives, we’ve been doing our best to revive domestic tourism for years. The planned moves of BDDK will, however, make some adverse effect on the sector,” Ayık said.