Tourism representatives in Turkey are optimistic about the upcoming tourism season with vaccines being developed by several firms worldwide, including Turkey, boosting morale.
The local sector entered 2020 with high expectations, having just closed a successful 2019 season, but was met with pandemic-induced travel restrictions and lockdown implementations.
Measures put in place in Turkey, mainly the Healthy Tourism Certificate initiative created in cooperation with the state-private sector, have combated the negative impacts of the pandemic to an extent and the country hosted a large number of tourists that exceeded its Mediterranean competitors.
Stating that the sector is hopeful for 2021, Ülkay Atmaca, head of Turkey’s Professional Hotel Managers Association (POYD), emphasized: “Developments, especially regarding vaccines, raise our hopes for the next season. Every positive news about vaccination reflects positively on the sector. We believe that the vaccine will bring up the tourism from the bottom very quickly.”
Atmaca told Anadolu Agency (AA) Monday that the sector has been through a difficult period in 2020.
However, he said, they attribute greater importance to the number of hotels that kept their doors open rather than the number of tourists coming to the country.
“While the hotels in rival countries were closing, we maintained tourism,” he said, noting: “Being able to do tourism in such a period is a great strength.”
