Turkey’s tourism needs long time to fully recover, says research firm

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s tourism sector needs many years to fully recover in case any negative development breaks out, a leading tourism research company has said, adding that Spain and Portugal benefited most from Turkey’s plunge.

The research firm STR Global carried out an assessment on Turkey’s tourism in cooperation with the Hotels Association of Turkey (TÜROB). 

The research company, which tracks 58,000 hotels across the world with a total room capacity of 7.8 million, noted that it was early to say Turkey’s tourism sector was improving again despite a recovery in 2017 since the previous year, according to a statement by TÜROB released on Sept. 12. 

“Turkey’s tourism sector needs a long time to go back to the good old days without being associated with any negative developments,” STR Business Development Director Thomas Emanuel said. 

“Turkey has shown some recovery over this this year compared to the previous year, but it is not possible for us to describe this trend as an improvement,” he also noted, adding that Spain and Portugal benefited most from Turkey’s embattled situation in tourism. 

In the first seven months of the year, hotel occupancy rates across Turkey rose 12.5 percent compared to the same period of 2016, but an 18.6 percent year-on-year decline was seen in average daily rates (ADRs). 

“The July results especially matter. Hotel occupancy rates across Turkey rose to 69.2 percent in July with a 64.9 year-on-year increase, mainly thanks to a base effect from a failed coup attempt last July. Despite an 18.5 percent increase in occupancy rates in Istanbul’s hotels in the first seven months of the year, the city’s ADR saw a 21.9 percent year-on-year plunge, even lower than the country average,” Emanuel said. 

While ADR was 65 euros across Turkey in the first seven months of the year, this regressed to 36 euros in the same period of 2017.