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Currency woes hit Turkish tourism
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05 Oct 2008 Sun 03:25 pm |
The declining value of foreign currencies is posing a problem for the tourism industry as the 2008 season draws to a close.
Turkey´s hotels rely on agreements with foreign tour operators, which generally pay in foreign currency, meaning many are facing a serious decrease in profits in the last weeks of the season and are even being forced to close early.
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The Marmaris representative of a British tour operator, Joanne Atkins, noted that 100 pounds was nearly YTL 250 a short time ago but now it was only YTL 200. “This affects mainly dining out, shopping and excursion activities of our clients. They are saying Turkey is getting as expensive as Spain. For example, a glass of vodka is now YTL 6 – that is 3 pounds. The same vodka is 1.5 pounds in the U.K.”
More: http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=116144
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As expensive as Spain? The number of tourists will drop soon further I´m afraid...
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2. |
05 Oct 2008 Sun 03:32 pm |
The declining value of foreign currencies is posing a problem for the tourism industry as For example, a glass of vodka is now YTL 6 – that is 3 pounds. The same vodka is 1.5 pounds in the U.K.”
Not quite as bad as it sounds compared with the UK! A measure of vodka here is equivalent to a double at in the UK - no optics in Turkey!
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05 Oct 2008 Sun 03:38 pm |
Turkey should be pleased. This way it won´t have some of it´s regions overrun with drunken British youth.
Surely people can have a great holiday without getting sozzled.
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05 Oct 2008 Sun 04:06 pm |
Visitors to Turkey aren´t all drunken yobs.
My husband and I love the country and have done 10 ´road trips´ in the last 4 years. Unfortunately this situation has put paid to our re-visiting in the near future.
In 2004 we were paying,typically, 25-35 lira for bed and breakfast (double). 2005 about 10% more,2006 another 10% increase and so on. This year on our 5 week trip around Eastern Turkey we counted ourselves lucky if we found something for 50-60 (though there were exceptions)
In May/June we got 2.46 lira to the pound. If we did the same trip now at today´s exchange rate it would cost us 20% more-unaffordable to us at the moment.
We also noticed the rise in the cost of transport as we cover many,many miles by bus. Still reasonable by UK standards but increasingly Turkey is no longer a cheap destination.
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05 Oct 2008 Sun 04:35 pm |
However, the value of Turkish currency is quite inflated, it is artificially kept high at the moment. It is bound to go down.
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05 Oct 2008 Sun 05:56 pm |
Excessive transportation costs can be linked to the gas price in Turkey which is the highest in Europe and probably in the world too. We pay nearly 3.50 for a liter of regular gasoline. To fill a 55 liter car tank you pay 192 Liras or 157 Dollars. An Iranian businessman who was in my car when I was filling it up said I had just paid enough money to get him a years worth of gas in Iran. I have a small economy class sedan; for the money I paid on it you could buy a decent BMW or Mercedes in Germany. In lira terms it consumes as much as a six cylinder sports sedan does elsewhere. Energy, telecommunication and imported goods as well as alcoholic beverages are extremely expensive in this country. Once a French friend of mine told me when we were talking about our wine habits, he would pay just a couple of euros for a regular table wine and on special occasions he would look for a decent wine in the 10-15 Euro range. Well in Turkey, unless you don´t want to end up with dog poison you must think of spending 10-15 for a regular table wine and twice as much for a decent one.
I have found America is way cheaper than Turkey in electronics; many Europeans believe they are more expensive but apart from certain things like water, fruits and vegetables they tend to be cheaper from basic necessities point of view. If a luxury item is made in Europe, it is still a lot cheaper there since the price runs up dramatically because of taxes and expenses.
There are several reasons behind this problem:
* Turkey finances its huge budget deficit through high taxes sometimes amounting to several times the basic cost of an item (e.g. gas prices, car prices).
* Turkey is not producing much enough and efficiently enough. In the mindset of Turks, the ultimate financial target is becoming a shop owner, sitting on a chair day in day out expecting customers. Much of the money circulates in the services sector which again does not produce any tangible value or products. All the auxiliary sectors supporting the locomotive sectors like construction, textile (RIP), tourism etc depend mostly on imported commodity, technology, branding etc.
There are attempts to change this. I see domestic mall chains originating in an Anatolian town (Bursa) and spreading in other neighboring cities creating considerable employment and added economical dynamism to those regions.
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05 Oct 2008 Sun 10:00 pm |
Visitors to Turkey aren´t all drunken yobs.
Well of course they´re not, it was just a ´tongue in cheek´ statement (I didn´t use the word yob either ). But, seriously, there are places in Cyprus and Ibiza that have been badly affected by the antics of a certain type of British tourist and I would hate the same to happen in Turkey.
I too visit Turkey regularly btw and love it.
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05 Oct 2008 Sun 10:58 pm |
Well of course they´re not, it was just a ´tongue in cheek´ statement (I didn´t use the word yob either ). But, seriously, there are places in Cyprus and Ibiza that have been badly affected by the antics of a certain type of British tourist and I would hate the same to happen in Turkey.
I too visit Turkey regularly btw and love it.
It´s none too pretty in Gumbet of an evening (or so I hear - wouldn´t be seen dead there myself!)
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05 Oct 2008 Sun 11:01 pm |
"It´s none too pretty in Gumbet of an evening (or so I hear - wouldn´t be seen dead there myself!"
Yeah right!
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05 Oct 2008 Sun 11:02 pm |
"It´s none too pretty in Gumbet of an evening (or so I hear - wouldn´t be seen dead there myself!"
Yeah right!
How dare you???
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05 Oct 2008 Sun 11:04 pm |
Don´t you mean ´how VERY dare you´?
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05 Oct 2008 Sun 11:42 pm |
This is soo wierd, everybody here knows turkey is the cheapest place you can go to!!! Its common knowledge! Im very surprised to hear this! My friend (BTW shes soo lucky!) she went with her family this year ona world wide tour!!!!!! Shes soooooooooo lucky! She went everywhere you can imagine, she said teh 2 cheapest places theyw ent to were Prague and istanbul, so this is sad fopr turkiye but thats only one point of view, tourism willd rop, but you have a strong currency!!! Thats happy news!!!!! Strong currency=strong economy!
I wish egypt had a s trong economy Theegyptian pound is sooo cheap!!!!!
i wish i took my allowance in euros!!!!!!
lol
id be soo rich i mean 4 euros for a meal from Mc donalds sounds sooo cheap right??? And a SUPER meal too!
Tahst soo unfair!!
U guys must be rich when you come here
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06 Oct 2008 Mon 01:09 am |
Do you always (have to) talk sooo excited and shouty?
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06 Oct 2008 Mon 02:06 am |
It´s none too pretty in Gumbet of an evening (or so I hear - wouldn´t be seen dead there myself!)
Gumbet is brill for a night out.
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06 Oct 2008 Mon 02:38 am |
Do you always (have to) talk sooo excited and shouty?
DK, Welcome (back) to TLC
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06 Oct 2008 Mon 12:14 pm |
But those drunken Brits have to sleep somewhere and have to eat something. Thus even they contribute to Turkey´s touristic success.
Turkey is cheap but it´s not cheaper than Egypt or Bulgaria, quality of service for the same price does not beat those two either.
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06 Oct 2008 Mon 12:30 pm |
But those drunken Brits have to sleep somewhere and have to eat something. Thus even they contribute to Turkey´s touristic success.
It depends what you mean by touristic success. If drunken Brits is the market the industry is trying to attract then they´ll be very successful, but then they will possibly lose another sector of the market (probably other, less lively, areas of Turkey will gain though). Believe it or not, many hoteliers around the world will not entertain certain customers because of the negative image they portray. They run their businesses for a profit of course, but not at any price and not if it alienates other customers.
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06 Oct 2008 Mon 12:32 pm |
Gumbet is brill for a night out.
Gumbet is vile! Full of English drunks and greasy over-sexed Turkish dudus
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06 Oct 2008 Mon 01:38 pm |
Gumbet is vile! Full of English drunks and greasy over-sexed Turkish dudus
But the GOOD thing about it is that it keeps them away from where I live! (and be fair WT its Dutch, Russian and German drunks as well!!)
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06 Oct 2008 Mon 04:14 pm |
Do you always (have to) talk sooo excited and shouty?
Well..
Im sorry aboutt hatbbut thats just my personality, even though i dunno why youre mad abotu me being excited, and this si really cool, u know how i talk like through my posts???
I never shotu in my posts, and its not sooooooooo excited...
Tell you this, next time you see one of my posts you can just skip it if it bothers u so much!
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06 Oct 2008 Mon 06:38 pm |
But the GOOD thing about it is that it keeps them away from where I live! (and be fair WT its Dutch, Russian and German drunks as well!!)
We Dutch are always nice and so... never drunk, never loud....
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06 Oct 2008 Mon 10:00 pm |
Well..
Im sorry aboutt hatbbut thats just my personality, even though i dunno why youre mad abotu me being excited, and this si really cool, u know how i talk like through my posts???
I never shotu in my posts, and its not sooooooooo excited...
Tell you this, next time you see one of my posts you can just skip it if it bothers u so much!
I wasn´t mad or anything, and there is no need for you to be sorry about your personality or anything. It is just something that I noticed in all of your posts, not something Im asking you not to, judging you about or being mad about. I was just wondering if you always ´talk´ (write, whatever, if you want to be so picky on words) this ´excited´ way.
Thanks for your advice, but Im already doing that most of the time
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