Fahrettin Çiçek, reacting to the planned 900-1050% increase in the overseas departure fee to be submitted to the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) as part of a new tax package, emphasized the burden this would place on the tourism industry.
With the new increase, the overseas departure fee will become a new million-dollar expense item, Çiçek noted. "Should we stop visiting our source markets and foreign business partners? Is the issue just to collect fees from our citizens wanting to travel abroad, like only a few underdeveloped countries do? We must travel in teams to continue our incoming activities. We bring tourists to our country from over 30 source markets. Every year, summer and winter, we conduct extensive marketing activities towards these source markets and attend hundreds of overseas fairs, workshops, and presentations. I roughly calculated... Welcome, our new million-dollar expense item," he said.
Impact on outgoing and incoming agencies
Fahrettin Çiçek further stated that the increase would force agencies conducting both outgoing and incoming operations to rely on online meetings for sales negotiations. "The TGA participation fee, taken from our turnover without considering our profitability, wasn't enough. The continuously rising input costs against the flat low exchange rate for months weren't enough. Setting the entrance fee for Ephesus in foreign currency at 40 euros and demanding payment in foreign currency on the entry day wasn't enough. Now, with a significant increase in our overseas departure fee, we are being forced to halt both outgoing and incoming operations and resort to online sales calls" he added.