Tourism

Tourist arrivals to Turkey increased by 15 percent over the first six months in comparison with the first half of 2007, according to figures published by the Turkish Hotels Federation, or TÜROFED, yesterday.

“The first half of 2008 has been a good season. We expect the growth to continue for the rest of the year,” Ahmet Barut, chairman of TÜROFED, told reporters in Istanbul.

“Especially in Antalya, Muğla, İzmir and Istanbul, the sector grew 18-19 percent. This is a very pleasing development. We expect to end this year with 27 million tourists. For the year ahead, our expectation is to host 30 million tourists,” Barut said.



Politics and Turkey's image

Responding to a question related to the recent arrests of former generals and journalists critical of the current Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government Barut said the political developments are unlikely to have a major impact on the industry, but can reflect on the country's overall image abroad. “However, of course, all kinds of standards such as physical and legislative infrastructure, life standards, democratic standards are values that can either improve or worsen the image of a country,” he said.

The recent increase in electricity prices, on the other hand, is likely to balance out some of the growth in the sector, Barut added. Electricity prices in Turkey were increased by 22 percent in late June. “The increased electricity prices can increase costs by YTL 25,000 for a single hotel during the season,” he noted.



UK, the Netherlands lead arrivals in Muğla

In Muğla province tourist arrivals by air and sea increased by 16 percent in comparison with the same period last year. Muğla Governor Ahmet Altıparmak told reporters yesterday that some 947,040 foreign tourists visited the province's resorts including Marmaris, Fethiye, Bodrum, Dalaman and Datça over the first six months of the current year. Last year the corresponding figure was 816,961. The largest share of tourists to Muğla arrived from the United Kingdom (426,893 people) and the second-largest group from the Netherlands (69,678 people).