Meeting with the economic and tourism press at Atatürk Cultural Center to share the tourism data for the second quarter and first half of the year, Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy particularly highlighted the low occupancy rates in Çeşme and Bodrum hotels.
"We launched a project to extend the season to 12 months"
Ersoy attributed the low occupancy rates in Çeşme and Bodrum hotels to several factors, including the Olympics in Europe, the Visa on arrival in the Greek Islands for Turkish citizens, and the reduction in vacation durations for Turks. However, he identified the primary issue as the dependency of these two districts on a single (Turkish) market and the inability to extend the season to 12 months. Ersoy stated that upon taking office, projects for Çeşme and Didim were prepared to address these issues but were obstructed by local municipalities. In his speech, Ersoy remarked:
"The core issue here is that the season in Çeşme and Bodrum is short and the sector is predominantly dependent on a single market (the Turkish market). Tourism policies in these regions have been developed based on a flawed strategy for 40 years.
After assuming office, one of the first projects we implemented was the Aegean Tourism Centers project, which included the Çeşme and Didim projects. You might wonder what Didim has to do with Bodrum; the Didim Tourism Project was actually centered around Bodrum Airport. In other words, Bodrum Airport was to be used as the main airport.
"Aegean Tourism Projects were designed to extend the season to 12 months"
"These tourism centers were designed to extend the season to 12 months. The plan included golf, football, motor sports, nature sports, cultural and art centers, event and concert areas, and the largest museum in the Aegean region. This would have extended tourism to 12 months and created a high-quality accommodation environment appealing to everyone. Another significant outcome of this project was that İzmir and Bodrum, which are mainly connected to international traffic through Istanbul, would have been directly connected to many points around the world.
"Municipalities approached the project politically"
"Unfortunately, local governments approached the project politically. Numerous legal processes were initiated. The project's development pace was slowed down and obstructed. Although it is progressing very slowly at the moment, had the process not been obstructed, the project we started in 2018 would have been realized by now, and we wouldn't have to discuss Çeşme and Bodrum today."