Crisis hits Ankara’s tourism

The tourism industry in ankara is facing the increasing impact of the global financial crisis and economic uncertainty, with occupancy rates at hotels and the number of people traveling showing a sharp decline. "Tourism is one of the most sensitive industries all around the world. Epidemics, terrorist attacks, wars and economic crises all negatively affect the industry. The crisis’ indications are also felt in the domestic market in ankara. The general situation does not seem to be promising for the travel agencies and hotels," Gökhan Korkmaz, ankara Regional Executive Board President of the Travel Agencies Union of Turkey, or TURSAB, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. ankara is not actually a holiday and tourism destination. With its central location in the country, ankara is rather a transition point for visitors and what creates movement and mobility here is primarily made up of visits by the diplomatic corp and delegations, as well as congresses held by the private and public sectors. Although ankara is likely to be relatively less affected by the crisis compared to other tourism destinations of ıstanbul or antalya; the figures and what the sector analysts say reveal tourism in ankara is already facing difficult times. The occupancy rates of hotels in ankara declined from 57 percent in 2007 to 52 percent in 2008 in which the crisis’ effects are felt while the number of domestic and international tourists arrivals dropped from 911,823 in 2007 to 880,866, according to the Culture Ministry’s data. "The tours, international ones in particular, are being canceled due to the crisis and rise in the dollar. Some private airlines had to postpone their flights to some holiday destinations during the recent religious feast holidays. There is a decrease in the number of people traveling these days due to increasing unemployment throughout the country," Korkmaz said. Bus companies running between cities are offering promotional prices in oder to attract more customers, while hotels and travel agencies are trying to find different ways to survive, according to Korkmaz. Travel agencies are hit the hardest"They offer reduced prices -- if paid promptly. Some are aware that they will be losing money with the reduced rates, but they are at least trying to keep the company going until the new season during which a substantial amount of money is expected to be in circulation again," he said. TURSAB is currently holding some negotiations with the government as to what sort of incentives or credit opportunities can be provided for the industry. "Tourism has been supported in the past during crisis periods and now there is also such an expectation from the government," Korkmaz noted. Echoing Korkmaz’s words, Ümit Maçkan of one of ankara’s leading travel agencies, Tempo Tour, said tours had lost their priority and the crisis had hit the travel agencies the hardest. "The tours lagged behind people’s basic needs as priority. People do not want to spend money on their hobbies any more in the wake of the crisis. We had to lower the number of tours and the number of participants likewise decreased. It is the ski season but there is no demand," Maçkan said. Sibel Güven of the ankara Turkish Tourist Guide Associations said, in contrast to previous years’ religious holidays, there was no demand for tourist guides in the recent religious holidays during which the crisis began to manifest itself most. "Cultural tours became highly popular, especially during such periods and travel agencies asked for tourist guides from us. They now organize tours once they could find customers again and we haven't faced such a demand density since almost September," Güven said. Companies cancel their meetings at hotels The situation is not promising for ankara's hotels either. Waiting for 2009 to make a more concrete and decisive comment on the issue, the big hotels have faced slight turbulence since the crisis emerged but some of ankara’s relatively small hotels have even considered pulling down the shutters. "The occupancy rate dropped from 80 percent in the first month of 2008 to 30 percent in 2009 in ankara's hotels, also resulting in the decline in revenue. The number of activities such as conferences, the major source of income for hotels, are also on the decline. Companies are canceling their meetings or trainings planned to be held in hotels," said Savaş Çolakoğlu, ankara President of the International Travel and Tourism Professionals Associations, or SKAL. "They highlight promotions and introduce reduced-prices to survive. The more the government becomes active in international relations the more hotels benefit from it. International events such the European Union process give impetus to hotel businesses," he said. For Seçim Aydın, President of the Anatolian Tourism Administrators Association and second president of the Turkish Hotels Federation, or TUROFED, the crisis did not affect tourism investments in ankara as the planned construction of large and small hotels still were still underway. The activities in the hotels, meanwhile, showed a decrease. "Tourism slowed down but the real effect is to be seen after January. We want the government to reduce the rates of special consumption taxes and provide incentives and credit opportunities to overcome the crisis’ future effects," Aydın said, complaining also the government’s recent tendency to hold international events in ıstanbul instead of ankara although the state protocol is based in the capital city. The hotel managers of big hotels in the capital said the crisis had so far only slightly affected them but they did not expect a sharp change in their operations. ankara usually hosts government and business-related activities so its effect would not be so destructive. Adnan Yücel, the general manager of the SwissÔtel ankara, said they felt the crisis after November as some meetings have been cancelled since then and there was a slight slowdown in January. "We are relatively flexible in our prices. I think ankara wouldn’t be much affected by the crisis like ıstanbul or antalya. It may be affected by 15 or 20 percent," Yücel said, while ankara Sheraton Hotel’s General Manager Jaques Chevasson said they faced a slight slowdown since Mid-November. "We do not expect any sharp changes but we are anticipating some slowdowns in the number of weddings and conferences. ankara is not an expensive destination compared to other European capitals. We do not plan to make any change in our pricing policy," Chevasson noted. Alp Çerçi of the relatively small Midas Hotel said expenses had increased with the recent price hikes, especially in natural gas, so they had to reduce the prices. Occupancy rates slowed down and the number of activities declined.