The Mediterranean Touristic Hoteliers and Operators Association (AKTOB) held its first dinner meeting of 2025 at Delphin Be Grand Resort. AKTOB President Kaan Kavaloğlu, who made evaluations on both a national and global scale at the meeting, stated that doing tourism in the geography where Türkiye is located is an enjoyable but difficult job. Kavaloğlu said, “The possibility of an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine gives us hope. We are following the situation closely. The situation in exchange rates is hitting us right in the heart. It is not sustainable for us for exchange rates to continue like this. The fact that we will not be able to increase our prices regarding cos increase and that make us worry. We can last until June, but the exchange rates after that are very important to us. It is very important for such an important sector to come to balance within the exchange rate mechanism.”
“Double-digit growth is not expected”
Kaan Kavaloğlu, who noted that although 2025 is a year of optimism in global tourism, double-digit growth is not expected. “This is also the case in our country. But I would like to say that the system is rushing towards online. The numbers we are able to reach with traditional systems do not exceed a certain level. Offline sales are still at the level of 45 percent of total reservations. Flight reservations are now made completely through technology. We do not think that we can stay out of artificial intelligence as the accommodation industry.” Kavaloğlu said.
“Nearly 50 thousand houses are rented for tourism purposes”
Kavaloğlu, who stated that renting a house is a form of tourism, said that the important thing is whether the rules are followed or not. “This is a fact. The concept of vacationing by renting a house exists all over the world. This system is mostly preferred by young people. “Approximately 50 thousand houses are rented for tourism purposes. I am saying this out of courtesy, we should follow this. We should follow whether the rules are followed or not. We are a tolerant but smart sector. The same rules apply to us. As AKTOB, we also represent both small and medium-sized hotels,” he said.
