Speaking on a live broadcast about the 2024 summer season and holiday, Jolly Chairman of the Board Mete Vardar mentioned that particularly in nature and thermal hotels, occupancy has exceeded 90%.
"With the holiday being announced about 9 days ago, the occupancy in nature and thermal hotels has reached 90%. Sometimes such holidays are left to the last minute. Due to the coincidence with the mid-term break of schools and the beginning of the summer season, there is a very high demand. While there used to be 3-4 nights of stay, this year it has increased to 5-6 nights. The weather conditions are also very good. Therefore, we will have a nice holiday," he said.
"Secondary markets are becoming primary markets"
Evaluating the 2024 summer season, Vardar stated the following:
"In 2024, our country is experiencing very high demand. Türkiye was one of the countries that managed the pandemic process best. We started the season with tourism certification while taking health measures for incoming guests. Last year, there was $54 billion in foreign exchange inflow. Tourism creates resources for 50 different sectors. It also has a great contribution to the current account deficit. Especially 2023 was a very good year. These data have raised our expectations for 2024 to a more important point. Our goal for 2024 is 60 million tourists and $60 billion in tourism revenue.
We participate in many fairs abroad. We observed the following at the ITB Berlin Tourism Fair held in Germany: Türkiye surpassed Spain for the first time in early booking figures. There is a very good demand from Germany. There is also a huge demand from the UK. Russia still has unresolved issues with Ukraine, so we expect to reach figures similar to previous years.
Secondary markets are becoming primary markets. New markets are emerging. Demand for our country is increasing day by day. We are one of the best tourism countries in the world. Past events can sometimes disrupt this. It will be much better as time goes by. We have a goal of 100 million tourists. It will be much better when we reach this goal."
"Having beautiful hotels is not enough"
Vardar emphasized that having beautiful hotels is not enough. "Our hotels are very beautiful. We are discussing whether the all-inclusive system should change or not. But generally speaking, Türkiye provides this service very well. I travel a lot, and there are no hotel investments like Türkiye's anywhere in the world. The service provided to guests is unmatched anywhere. Having very beautiful hotels is not everything. We couldn't increase the per capita spending to a thousand dollars. The tourist comes to the hotel and doesn't leave. Unfortunately, the beauty of our hotels does not have the same reflection in our cities outside. Infrastructure problems continue at a high level in the Mediterranean and Bodrum. If we are going to do tourism, we cannot reach a point only with hotel investments. One of our most important issues is that hotels are highlighted rather than destination promotion. This situation is not only related to today but also to the fact that we have been doing tourism intensively for 40-50 years. Unfortunately, we experience the consequences of not making long-term plans."
"The local tourist should feel that vacation is a necessity, not a luxury"
Mete Vardar said that it is necessary to make the local tourist feel that vacation is a necessity, not a luxury, with early booking campaigns. "I thank the travel agencies that act courageously in the whole sector. Bank POS costs have increased significantly. Travel agencies are covering these costs themselves with campaigns like paying 25% now, and the rest 10 days before closing. In early bookings, it should be felt more that vacation is a necessity, not a luxury," he said.
