Turkish resort enjoys 100 percent occupancy rate

ANTALYA

Alanya Castle. Aivar Mikko / Alamy Stock Photo

Occupancy rates in southern Turkish province Antalya’s resort town of Alanya have hit 100 percent, according to sector players.

Alanya Tourism Association (ALTİD) chair Burhan Sili told the state-run Anadolu Agency on Aug. 11 that many hotels recently stopped sales actitivies as all their rooms were sold out due to strong demand from domestic and foreign tourists.

“Vacationers should not come to Alanya without booking their room first,” Sili said, noting that the popular resort has a capacity of 200,000 beds at its hotels.

Turkey’s Travel Agencies Union’s (TÜRSAB) local representative Bilal Korkmaz also released a similar warning, adding that tourism sector is “happy” but vacationers should plan their holidays beforehand because the week-long Eid al-Adha holiday corresponds to the high season this year.

The Eid’s first day is Aug. 21 but many Turks are expected to be on holiday between Aug. 18-26.

Turkey's tourism sector has been experiencing a strong recovery since the second half of 2017 in terms of foreign tourist arrivals.

In June, Turkey reached the highest yearly increase in hotel occupancy rates across 27 European destinations, but it ranked at the bottom of the list of the destinations with the highest hotel occupancy rates.

Istanbul witnessed the highest increase in hotel occupancy rates in June among all European destinations, as the rate rose to 57 percent with a 29.8 percent yearly increase.

Antalya’s hotels experienced the highest "revenue per available" among all Turkish hotels, according to STR Global data, compiled for the Hotel Association of Turkey (TÜROB).