Tourism sector sets hopes on post-Ramadan period

“Many Turkish people have set their holiday season in the post-Ramadan period in July as they will go to the polls in the June elections and wait for the start of summer holiday for schools. We see a dramatic rise in hotel reservations after the Ramadan month,” said Timur Bayındır, head of the Touristic Hoteliers and Investors Association (TUROB). 

The elections will be held on June 7 and schools will close down on June 12. The holy month of Ramadan will start on June 18.  

“We [have] specifically [seen a] rise in the demand from Middle Eastern countries for hotel reservations in the post-Ramadan period as well as the domestic market… This is the case for both resort hotels and city hotels across Turkey,” Bayındır noted. 

He invited potential tourists to make their reservations as soon as possible for the post-Ramadan period. 
Some tourism representatives do not expect any decrease in the demand in June for local hotels, which work with big tour operators in Europe and Russia. 

“There might be some slowing down for small tourism facilities during Ramadan, but we do not expect the same trend in the hotels which have ties with big tour operators, mainly in the Aegean districts of Marmaris and Bodrum. The sector will be receiving many European and Russian tourists in June as well,” said Turkey’s Hoteliers Federation (TÜROFED) coordinator Necip Boz.

The number of foreign people visiting Turkey decreased by 8.1 percent in April from the same months of the previous year, according to data from the Tourism Ministry.

The number of foreign visitors decreased by 0.5 percent in the first four months of the year to 6.96 million, compared to the same period of 2014, according to the data.