Outdoor leisure venues await reopening order

Burak Coşan - ISTANBUL

Entertainment venues across Turkey, which host approximately 150 million visitors annually, have completed social distancing arrangements to reopen after a three-month break to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the chair of an association said on June 16.

“The entertainment sector has been affected by the pandemic directly. When the shopping centers were closed on March 16, we applied to the government to shut our businesses down officially. As of June 1, bowling halls and climbing walls reopened,” said Mustafa Mertcan, head of the Entertainment, Park, Activity and Attraction Association.

“We have decided to wait for a while to reopen the indoor playgrounds. But we are ready to reopen the outdoor venues,” he told daily Hürriyet.

The operators of the playgrounds inside shopping centers have applied to the owners of the premises to rearrange rent deals in accordance with turnover figures.

“Entertainment venues are vital to attract families and children to the shopping centers. Thus, it is important we continue operating at those places,” said Mertcan.

According to the newly introduced safety and hygiene rules, visitors cannot enter the venues without a face mask and protective gloves. Masks, gloves and hand sanitizers will be offered to the visitors at the entrance gates.

The number of visitors to the venues are limited to one person for every eight square meters.

All the employees at the entertainment places will go through temperature checks regularly.

Some 45,000 people are employed in the Turkish entertainment sector, however, the figure increases to 100,000 during a normal summer peak.

Nearly 10 percent of the 6.2 million square meters total area of the entertainment venues are located inside shopping centers.

The annual turnover of the Turkish entertainment sector is estimated at 4 billion Turkish Liras ($585.2 million).