Held in Antalya, one of the leading tourism destinations in Turkey and the world, Mesut Yar and the panel titled 'Tourism is Much Here' and the Hello Summer Launch Party of the tourismjournal.com.tr news site brought together industry representatives.
Tourism Journal Editor-in-Chief Aşkın Koç, the organizer of the event held at Antalya Sherwood Exclusive Kemer Hotel, drew attention to the importance of supporting and diversifying the sector.
Askin Koc, the journalist and the Editor-in-Chief of Tourismjournal.com.tr, one of the experienced names in the tourism sector, stated that they want to increase this number to 6 within 10 months, that the site is currently serving in Turkish, English and Russian.
Stating that the site has a simple and news-oriented design, Aşkın Koç said, “Tourismjournal.com.tr has a news-oriented structure without an advertising crowd. A news site that produces daily and instant content from tourism destinations in Turkey. Tourism in Türkiye is at the forefront of the world rankings. We have made it our mission to provide the place that Turkish tourism deserves in the world by making our news site in many languages. We are among the most important tourism destinations because we have a significant power with both investments and service quality and we should announce this to the world more," he said.
A RICH PROGRAM HAS BEEN SIGNED
Tourism investors, tourism professionals, national and local press representatives, academics participated in the panel, AKTOB President Kaan Kavaloğlu in the "Antalya and Tourism" session, TÜRSAB President Firuz Bağlıkaya in the "Turkey and Tourism" session, Fraport TAV General Manager Deniz Varol in the "Aviation and Tourism" session , “Resort Tourism” Hasan Ali Ceylan Sherwood Exclusive YKB, “Member of the ATSO Board of Directors and TÜRSAB Health IHT Comm. President Dr. Hatice Öz Ö.Uncalı Meydan Hospital Founder Dr Cengiz Yılmaz, Sanitas SPA Founder and TÜGİAD Vice President. Dr. Şebnem Akman answered Balta Mesut Yar's questions. Antalya Aquarium General Manager İsmail Arık expressed his views on “Antalya and Urban Tourism” and Medilux&Sanitas Founding Partner Abdurrahman Balta on “Human Resources and Education in Health Tourism”.
HOMS Global Inc. General Manager Gökhan Uçarkaya explained “Digital Transformation in Tourism”.
In the "Gastronomic Tourism" session, Rixos Sungate chef Recep Güler, Sherwood Exclusive chef Zafer Tok and Sky Business Hotel and Fener Restaurant General Manager Nurten Sarı gave speeches.
IF RUSSIAN TOURISTS COMING, THE SECTOR WILL BECOME
AKTOB President Kaan Kaşif Kavaloğlu stated that they achieved a significant momentum in April and stated that there was an increase of 45 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
Emphasizing that the number of tourists who came to Antalya in April exceeded 2 million, Kaan Kaşif Kavaloğlu said: “If Russian tourists come this year, we will have a good season. Because there is no market that can make up for the shortcomings of the Russian market. For Antalya, there is the UK market, which seems to be a plus, exceeding 1 million. There are 1.5 million people coming in this market. There are 55-60 million packages out of Germany and England to world tourism. We still have a long way to go in the UK market. Antalya and Türkiye are world tourism. The tourism operator catches the 2019 income figure, but cannot catch the profitability for a long time. Costs have increased by over one hundred percent, and the exchange rate is below our expectations. Profitability will not reach 2019 profitability for a long time. Domestic tourism is a must for Antalya. There are two source markets that have not abandoned us. The second abroad is European Turks. It means a very good resource in times of crisis. But we care about the domestic market not only in times of crisis, but throughout the season."
IT IS IMPORTANT TO SPREAD THE SEASON TO 12 MONTHS
Speaking at the panel, Hasan Ali Ceylan, Chairman of the Board of Sherwood Resorts & Hotels, said,
Emphasizing that the tourism sector requires effort and the profitability is gradually decreasing, he said, “You have to love tourism, you have to do it with love. If you do this, success comes with it. We also love our job, we are very concentrated. Money is definitely important, but it's not the only criterion for me. Since money is not the first criterion for us in our business, we struggle to do the best in everything. The most important thing for us is to increase the brand value and to be a proper tradesman.
The services we offer exceed what we have to offer. There is a benefit in favor of the guest here. With this expectation, tourists come to our country. This needs to be rearranged. Every hotel should have an all-inclusive standard. There are problems in our sector that are beyond our control in terms of employment. After all, we are a seasonal business. Spreading employment to 12 months is nothing more than a dream, as long as the hotels are closed. As long as we don't fix some things, this topic is nothing more than talking. Along with us, the state also needs to increase its support and take responsibility.”
THE DROP IN THE RUSSIAN MARKET
Evaluating the course of Antalya tourism in May, TÜRSAB President Firuz Bağlıkaya said that there was a serious decline in the Russian market as well. Firuz Bağlıkaya said, “We started the first 2-3 months of the year well, but May looks very bad. Especially in the Russian market, there is a serious decline. I think the numbers will pick up by the end of the year. Türkiye stands out with its products and competitive prices. While the Russians used to pay the appropriate transportation cost with a 2-3 hour flight to Turkey, the flight now takes five hours and the price rises, and the embargo advantage for the Russian tourist destinations for Turkey has disappeared. Russians go to Dubai or other countries in 5 hours. We are experiencing such turbulence. After a few years, we are going through a process where these wounds will be healed. The foreign tourism movement of the countries that do not have a strong domestic tourism movement is not good either. If we cannot get our own citizens to travel, it is not possible for anything we do abroad to be sustainable. For this, there are things that fall to the state and the sector. Tax deductions can be made for the domestic quota of the hotels, VAT may not be charged," he said.
DEMAND FOR HEALTH TOURISM IS INCREASING
Private Uncalı Meydan Hospital Orthopedics and Traumatology Specialist Dr. Cengiz Yılmaz said that Turkey has an important potential in health tourism.
Dr. Cengiz Yılmaz, who stated that the popularity of health tourism is increasing and Antalya should get a share from this cake, said: “The cake of health tourism is huge. Because we offer very high quality service to public and private health institutions in our country under very economical conditions. It is clear that we are very competitive at this point. Only India can compete with our country, but they certainly cannot compete with us in terms of quality. Currently, medicine in our country is in a very good condition in almost every field. We have a health system that can compete with the most advanced countries of the West and Europe. The Ministry of Health has very successful efforts to support health tourism. This only needs to be supported by the state a little more in the promotion part. Health tourism in Antalya is below the level it should be. For years, it has been said that the tradesmen of Antalya do not benefit enough from tourism due to the all-inclusive tourism concept in Antalya, and this is true. Especially when health tourism is brought to the fore, the per capita tourist expenditure will reach much higher levels and it will have a lot of benefit and contribution to the occupancy rate, especially for city hotels.
QUALIFIED STAFF IS IMPORTANT
Sanitas Spa Ltd. Company Founder Abdurrahman Balta made two presentations at the panel, titled 'Training in the Tourism Sector' and 'Human Resources in the Tourism Sector'.
Abdurrahman Balta said, “Although Spa and Wellness service is a new type of service in Turkish tourism, the number of services has increased rapidly in a short time. Basically, these problems can be grouped under the headings of management, legislation, marketing and more prominent human resources. The difficulty of finding qualified personnel, especially in the human resources section, and the methods applied to overcome this difficulty are heavily discussed in the sector. It is stated that it is difficult to find enough employees with the necessary skills, especially for positions at the management level. Again, the same research suggests that these problems will either stay the same or get worse over the next 10 years.