Istanbul hotels may miss vacancy targets

ISTANBUL - Anadolu Agency

Hotels in Istanbul expected some 20 percent increase in their vacancy rates from the previous year, but the figures note a maximum increase of 5 percent should be expected for the year-end, said Timur Bayındır, head of Turkey’s Touristic Hotels and Investors Association (TUROB). 

“We have started to see many reservation cancelations at our Istanbul hotels for June. We now expect approximately a 5 percent increase in vacancy rates by the year-end, much lower than our former estimates from the latest reports from hotels in Istanbul,” he said. 

The number of visitors coming to Istanbul from abroad reached 8.94 million in the first ten months of the year with an 11.9 percent increase from the same period of previous year. The biggest rise was seen in the number of German tourists, reaching approximately 1.29 million. 

“Some uncontrolled rentable houses have reduced the compatibility power of hotels in Istanbul. This is a fact,” he said.