Turkey’s GP stalls at the starting line

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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The fifth edition of the Turkish Grand Prix is this Sunday at Istanbul Park amid questions of economic sustainability. Is this race, once hailed as a breakthrough in the country’s economy, really helping or becoming a burden with its diminishing profits, especially in the dire situation during these credit-crunch times?

Ticket sales this year were set to hit an all-time low, with the three-day attendance expected to be just under 100,000, daily Hürriyet reported.

Can Güçlü, the general manager of the Istanbul Park circuit, said individual sales met expectations, but they had a harder time reaching the corporate-sales targets than in previous years. "Last year, we had 40,000 spectators just for Sunday, and 100,000 people were there throughout the weekend," Güçlü said. "This year, there is a decrease in corporations buying tickets, but the number of individual ticket buyers is better than last year."

"We may still match last year’s spectator figures, but the tickets that corporations bought were the higher-priced ones, so we may see a drop in total income," he said.

Güçlü said they expect there will be huge vacant blocks in the 23,000-seat grandstands."Only 30 percent of the seats have been sold," said Güçlü, again highlighting the fact that corporations opted to buy cheaper tickets.

"That is our biggest problem this year. For example, a company that bought 2,500 tickets last year purchased less than 500 tickets this time around."

But at the end of the day, it would not be a shock, considering that there has been a constant decline in crowd numbers since the race’s debut in 2005. The inaugural Turkish Grand Prix drew 160,000 to Istanbul Park and figures have been on a downward trend ever since.

When it comes to foreign visitors coming to Istanbul, the figures are subject to dispute. While Güçlü said that around 15,000 people, including fans and team staff, came from other countries, the secretary-general of the Turkish Hoteliers’ Association, or TUROB, Levent Erdoğan, said this number was only 2,000.

"There was not big interest this year," said Erdoğan, according to daily Referans. "But still, the tourism sector will earn 1 million euros from this weekend."

TUROB Chairman Timur Bayındır said interest in the event was already greatly diminished from last year.

"Ticket prices are too high," Bayındır said, noting that prices range from 90 to 700 Turkish Liras. "The stands would not be left empty if the tickets were more economical. And the situation is dire for accommodation as well."

Güçlü admitted Istanbul Park took a loss last year, and it seems that the result will be the same this year, but he still believes that Turkey should not give up hosting a GP.

"It will be a huge loss if we cannot use such a big organization to our benefit," said Güçlü. "Spain, for example, was not any different than us the first time. The Spanish GP was watched by only 79,000 people in 1991, and by 54,000 the following year."

Spain, though, managed to turn things around.

"In 1996, the event drew 103,000 and now it is watched by almost 200,000," he said. "Seeing how the Catalonian Circuit makes 130 million euros in income a year, we should learn to see things in the long term."