Tourist numbers up, length of stay shortens
Posted by meb at August 28th, 2008
Volkan Şimşek, president of the Turkish Professional Hotel Managers’ Assembly, has said the number of tourists visiting Turkey increased 23 percent this year, but that travelers stayed for less time on average compared to last year.
According to the Anatolia news agency, this year tourists stayed in Turkey for only nine days on average, down from 11 in 2007. Şimşek underlined that hotels in Antalya have had a hard time maintaining full occupancy. “By the end of this year the number of the tourists visiting Turkey will be 9 million, which means a 1.4 million increase compared to last year. However, the average overnight stay rate, which was 83 million, will decrease to 81 million,” Şimşek noted. Signifying that the hotels are not as crowded as they were last year, Şimşek asserted that even in the busiest period, generally in August, there are not enough tourists showing up at hotels.
“The hotel managers who have increased their maximum capacities — 25,000 beds have been added in Antalya — are not satisfied with the decreased number of guests entering their doors. In an attempt to find a solution, hotel managers are now focusing on domestic tourists and are more often advertising with an eye to attracting Turkish tourists to their resorts,” Şimşek added.
source: Today’s Zaman
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