Ilber Ortayli criticized the focus on attracting more tourists, saying, "It has been fashionable since President Turgut Ozal's time. They say they want more tourists. Everything has a limit. 'More tourists' is a very primitive statement. Venice was ruined by receiving 70-80 million tourists annually. What matters is increasing tourist revenue. We want not just more tourists, but higher quality tourists who spend more. Trying to increase the number of tourists and hotels is wrong. High income can only be achieved with quality. The word 'more' needs to be very carefully adjusted."
In his speech, Ortayli emphasized that tourism is a very special profession and advised young people to develop themselves adequately for the job. He suggested that they travel extensively and learn foreign languages, stating, "Being fluent in a foreign language is important. Otherwise, you cannot properly convey history and geography. If you have the opportunity, I recommend going abroad to learn a language."
Ortayli also mentioned that the number of tourists entering Türkiye in the early 1960s was around 120,000 and noted that the organization and structuring of tourism was the work of a few bureaucrats and the planning organization. He shared that he started in tourism as a guide at the Information Directorate while he was a high school student in the 1960s, during which there was a lack of personnel to carry out a tourism inventory, leading to the utilization of students.
