The number of foreign tourists to Turkey this July increased by 16.55 percent, creating a boom in the tourism sector. But this situation has not benefited artisans in holiday resorts in the country. Marmaris is one of the resorts where shop owners complain about tourists who don´t want to spend money and barter with shop owners to pay less for even very cheap items.
MUĞLA - Doğan News Agency
While Turkey is about to break a record in the number of tourists this year, artisans in popular holiday towns are not pleased with this situation. Small shop owners in the Aegean town of Muğla´s Marmaris district, where streets of the shopping malls seem like desolate, complain about stagnancy in sales. According to a statement on foreign tourists made by the Ministry of Culture, the number of foreigners arrived in Turkey in this July increased by 16.55 percent to 3,624,000. Also, the number of tourists who visited Turkey from January to July has reached 12,808,369. This increase happened in Muğla, where Turkey´s world famous holiday resorts like Bodrum, Marmaris, Milas, Fethiye, Dalaman and Ortaca exist. The number of tourists who arrived in Muğla in the first six months of the year increased by 16 percent and reached 947,040 compared to last year. Speaking to the Doğan News Agency, artisans in Marmaris said they could not take advantage of that pleasing situation because their sales were going bad. Their common subjects of complaint were “penny-pinching” tourists, the “all-inclusive system,” salesmen, who disturb people to sell their products, and foreign guides, who recommend tourists to bargain. They said tourists bargained even for food and the Internet prices in cafes.
‘They don´t want to pay for taxi´
Some taxi and dolmuş (shared taxi) drivers said some tourists did not want to pay money because they thought transportation was also included in “all-inclusive” prices. They said this situation sometimes caused harsh discussions between drivers and tourists. “Unless necessary measures are taken and artisans do their best, Turkish tourism won´t have a bright future regardless of the increase in tourist numbers,” said Muğla Craftsmen and Artisans Chamber Chairman Şükrü Ayyıldız. He called for all officials and chamber members to find a solution. Noting that it should be imposed restrictions on all-inclusive system, hypermarkets and stores in shopping malls should be urgently closed, foreign tourists guides, who harm Turkey´s image, should be inspected, Ayyıldız continued, “Artisans often complain about their bad situation. What we observe is that there are many tourists but they don´t spend money. It is known that the all-inclusive system has a negative effect on sales. But it is not easy to give up this system under current conditions. Moreover, stores selling all kinds of products open in hotels. They prevent sales in small shops and they must be closed. Hypermarkets are also the nightmare of artisans. They harm the country´s economy as well as the small shop owners.” He noted that tourists walked in the middle of the street but not on pavements because of people who force them to buy something, and added, “Tourists should not be disturbed by these people. We also have foreign guide problem. Some tourism agencies send guides, who don´t even have any tourism education and don´t know anything about Turkey, to the country in order to pay less money. These guides recommend tourists to bargain in shopping and not to trust anyone. They harm the image of our artisans and our country.”
‘A tourism policy is needed´
Marmaris Mayor Ali Acar said artisans had the same problems in other holiday towns in Turkey, too. He said 4,500 holiday towns in the world created a serious competition in the sector, but Turkey was in difficulty to survive because of the lack of a tourism policy. “Many of our holiday towns have turned into a concrete jungle, and service quality lowered. Meanwhile, the number of holiday alternatives has increased all around the world. And the lack of a tourism policy have made our artisans´ situation worse.”
The game of foreign tour operators
Temel Irmak, the owner and the editor-in-chief of a daily paper titled “Gündem” that has been published in Marmaris for six years, claimed that it was foreign tour operators that caused negative events making artisans crazy. He said these operators launched Turkey´s holiday resorts as “cheap holiday alternative” abroad and added, “I have been working as a journalist in Marmaris for 13 years. Despite the number of tourists increase more and more every other season, artisans have gone bad. I think the most important reason for this situation is foreign tour operators, which sell Turkish hotels at giveaway price.”
Source: www.turkishdailynews.com.tr
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