New Year’s Eve reservations in hotels reach 90 percent

ISTANBUL

Türkiye’s choice for New Year’s Eve celebrations will be hotels. While the occupancy rate of the hotels reached 90 percent with only a few days before the New Year, 60 percent of the reservations were overnight. While many hotels create special three-night programs from Friday, Dec. 30 to Jan. 2, the prices of the hotels for the New Year’s Eve start from 1,000 Turkish Liras ($54) per person.

The representatives of the tourism sector noted that there is a high demand for the New Year’s balls at the hotels in addition to the accommodation customers in Istanbul, economy daily Nasıl Bir Ekonomi reported yesterday.

They added that winter resort Uludağ, hotels in Turkish Cyprus, as well as hotels in Antalya, Cappadocia and the Aegean attract great attention, and noted that those who will welcome in the New Year in Istanbul prefer the hotels on the Bosphorus, according to the report.

Explaining that consumers do not give up on their New Year’s holiday plans and make hotel reservations even if it is for a single day, Alp Kayar, Enuygun hotel services manager, stated that 60 percent of the reservations made for the New Year’s Eve are overnight.

Ali Onaran, chairman of Prontotour’s board of directors, said that the hotels that offer celebrations featuring famous singers have filled up very quickly.

“This year, nobody wanted to stay at home,” he said. “Many reservations were made from Cappadocia to Antalya. Ski resorts filled up much earlier.”

According to Setur’s data, hotels where famous singers will take the stage stand out, while European tours abroad are among the most popular choices.

While the average prices for tours abroad are at the level of $800-$900, a 50 percent increase in demand has been seen compared to the same period before the pandemic.

This year, Rome, Paris, Belgrade and Amsterdam came to the fore as the cities with the most reservations. The most preferred holiday regions were the Balkan countries and Lapland, where the northern lights can be observed.

The occupancy rate of the hotels in Erciyes Ski Resort has reached 92 percent. Domestic and foreign tourists enjoy skiing in the center, where the snow thickness reaches 50 centimeters and the season opened last weekend. On New Year’s Eve, the hotels in the region, which are expected to be 100 percent full, will entertain their guests with various events.

Erciyes A.Ş. chair Murat Cahid Cıngı said that direct flights have been scheduled to Kayseri since 2017 and that the first plane from Russia this year was to land in the city on Dec. 28.

“On Dec. 30, a plane departing from Warsaw, Poland will land in our city and every week, an average of eight to 10 planes will bring foreign tourists to our city,” he added.

“Erciyes is now on its way to becoming an international brand. Our market diversification efforts include other countries such as the European market, Scandinavian markets, the Balkans and the United Kingdom.”

Due to the low snowfall in Kartalkaya Ski Resort, three out of the five hotels did not open the season. On the other hand, two hotels started to accept their guests by filling their pistes with “artificial snow” and the reservation rate in hotels reached 80 percent.

Meanwhile, Bulgarian citizens continue to come to Edirne for holidays and shopping.

Gökhan Balta, Türkiye Hoteliers Association’s representative in Edirne, said that they expect more than 2,000 guests on New Year’s Eve.

“We have a heavy traffic of guests coming from the Balkans,” he said. “Our current booking density is around 70 percent for all hotels in Edirne. Until the last night, we believe that it will reach 80-85 percent.”