Apart hotels need a solution

MUĞLA – Anatolia News Agency

AA photo

Small apart hotels in the Aegean province of Muğla’s Marmaris are to be closed down as they are unable to maintain the “all-inclusive” system that has become widespread in the hospitality industry.

According to the information provided by the Marmaris Tourism Union (MARTAB), apart hotels constitute 20 percent of the 50,000-bed capacity in the town. Tourism officials said that apart hotels could not offer the all-inclusive system because of their insufficient physical capacity.

Turkish Travel Agencies Union (TÜRSAB) Marmaris Regional Executive Committee (BYK) President İsmail Özbozdağ said that the recent decrease in the number of British tourists in the region affected small hotels and apart hotels the most. He said that measures should be taken to save the apart hotels.

“The change in the concept, namely the all-inclusive system, damaged apart hotels the most. The number of apart hotels in the region cannot be underestimated. They should be gained in tourism again. These hotels are a significant value for us.”

‘Red line’ like Spain

Özbozdağ said that new models should be established for apart hotels to be effective in tourism, and that Spain could be seen as a model, adding that apart hotels should be merged. “There is a model in Spain, we can do it in Marmaris, too. All apart hotels are gathered under the same roof with very long-term credits and also with state support. A group can buy all apart hotels and have a large-bed capacity. The state should give long-term and low-interest credit to the restoration of apart hotels.”

He said that the reorganized apart hotels could be given the name “red line” or “flora” like in Spain, and that the ones with the same concept and same color could be organized in A, B and C blocks, adding that by maintaining the same service quality, the number of tourists in apart hotels could be increased.

Many apart hotels, the number of which promptly increased in 1990s, were being renovated in the construction season and some of them have been turned into boutique hotels,