He emphasized that hotel costs have increased by about 35 percent in terms of euros. Tuncay Kilit said, "Due to the rising costs, we experienced a loss in profitability, but after witnessing the pandemic period when all our hotels were closed, I am now grateful even for low profits. However, tourism has now gained momentum."
Strong growth in Europe, decrease in Russia
Regarding the growth in European markets and a 10 percent decrease in Russia, Tuncay Kilit mentioned that the Kilit Group has shown significant growth in European markets, especially in Germany and the UK. He stated, "We have experienced about a 10 percent decrease in Russia compared to previous years. We recorded a significant increase in our domestic market revenue. As the Kilit Group, we have been conducting quality tourism in our hotels for a long time, increasing the quality. In the accommodation sector, we have two brands, Crystal and Nirvana. We classify our hotels based on their location. We provide the same service inside hotels, but we use the Nirvana brand in our larger facilities. The rooms in our Nirvana hotels are a bit larger. Some concepts are a bit different, but the quality of service and food remains the same. We have a total of 20 hotels, including 3 Nirvana and 17 Crystal, and a capacity of 30,000 beds."
Tuncay Kilit shared the following information about the structure of the group, its areas of operation, and work related to personnel:
"We are a family company. A total of 13,000 people work in our group-owned businesses. Since 2019, we have been increasing the number of dormitories. At the moment we have a total of 38 dormitories with a capacity of 7,000 people and three more in the pipeline."
They steal our trained staff
"We attach great importance to staff training. Our winter training sessions have started again. We provide foreign language, food and beverage, room services, and bar training to our staff. Because this is a serious need. However, my only problem as a group is that I lose some of the thousands of staff I train each year right at the beginning of the season. Why? Because it's easier for our colleagues to pay a little more, about 300-500 liras, and steal the staff of another facility. But I'm happy about this too. Because these friends we train stay in Antalya, and at the end of the day, we raise the overall quality of tourism in Antalya."
A large project is being planned for the land behind Mardan
Tuncay Kilit, who announced that they have purchased the land behind Titanic Mardan Palace from Telman Ismailov, gave details about project that they plan on the land:
"We want to develop different entertainment concepts, similar to those not found at The Land of Legends, similar to those in Orlando. There are many different parks there... For example, I'm thinking of three concert venues, each with a capacity of 10 thousand people. Different concerts can be held in these three halls at the same time. There will be food and beverage units, shopping centers, and nice toys inside. For example, there is a sphere being built in Las Vegas, and tests are being conducted. I had seen smaller ones of this. It fascinates people and makes them fly in the air. There are many different things that Antalya needs to win."
"Dependent on the economic situation"
The start of this investment depends on the country's economic situation. It is not possible for us to carry out such a large project only with our own resources. Currently, credit costs are very high. That place is valuable. It is 10 minutes away from the airport. When credit costs drop and long-term credit opportunities arise, when an investor who believes in the project comes forward, it will add great value to Antalya.
"We will no longer build new hotels"
So, does Kilit Group plan to make new investments in the future? Tuncay Kilit makes the following assessment on this topic:
"We no longer consider making new hotel investments. We are now focused on further enhancing quality and guest satisfaction inside. Currently, our lowest customer satisfaction rating is 90 percent. We have a guest satisfaction rating between 90 and 98 in our hotel group. We respond to guests quickly. Each guest has an assistant. We solve the problem inside and quickly."
"We have 30 thousand people staying in our hotels every day"
We do not buy meat from outside, we have our own meat farm. We also have an organization related to fruits and vegetables. We go to the hotels daily with our own vehicles with fruits and vegetables. We are a hotel group where 30 thousand people stay every day. So far, we have not encountered a single case of food poisoning. Because we have a very serious food safety system. We track every step. We are a group that prioritizes customer satisfaction and safety."
"Vegan Burgers and Ice Cream"
Tuncay Kilit emphasized the following points further:
Another notable feature of our hotels is undoubtedly health. One of the latest concepts we have developed is Chi Restaurant, which offers completely vegan dining. The menus we offer inside are not found in Türkiye. We have vegan burgers, vegan ice cream, and vegan cheesecake. We have also opened a clinic inside Nirvana Cosmopolitan. We're not doing all of this just for show. Everything is well thought out. International competitions have been held at Cosmos Sport Center. Basketball teams from the USA, Canada, and Türkiye came.
Cosmos Moonlight was ready for October 29th.
Another project of ours was our Cosmos Moonlight ship. We managed to get it ready for Republic Day. We didn't build this large catamaran just for the sake of it. We built it with Lloyd's certification. Right now, you can board this boat with a thousand people and safely take it to any country you want.
Transforming one of our hotels into a tourism school
As a group, we attach great importance to education. Currently, we have collaborations with nearly 50 universities in Türkiye, and we have an academy called Crystal Academy. In fact, this month we made a decision; we are turning one of our hotels into a school. We have a hotel named Adrianus. We are converting it into a tourism school. It is a 150-room hotel. We will provide training for every department, creating test kitchens there. No guests will be accommodated in this facility. We have various consultants, instructors, and our own trainers in this regard. Trainings will begin there starting from next month.
"If the Israel-Palestine situation doesn't escalate, it could be a record year"
If the Israel-Palestine situation around us does not escalate significantly, 2024 could be a record year. We will not lose the reservation flow we lost at the beginning of last year's season. In 2018, we hosted 18 million tourists in Antalya. Currently, the capacity of Antalya Airport has increased by threefold. This means that Antalya now has the infrastructure to handle 30-40 million tourists. As a group, we are entering 2024 with all of our major and minor scale renovations completed. We only have a few improvement projects in mind.