Turkey's struggling hotels need ‘serious support’ with debt says association

Turkey's struggling hotels need ‘serious support’ with debt says association
More ow than wow for Turkey's pandemic-hit hotels this year. / haitham alfalah cc-by-sa 3.0.
By bne IntelIiNews September 23, 2021

Turkish hotels are heavily indebted and need "serious support" in paying back their loans as they recover from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Muberra Eresin, head of the Hotel Association of Turkey (TUROB).

The association was set to meet with the Turkish Banking Association to discuss the debt issue in coming days, Eresin said, adding that hotels needed payment instalments postponed.

She noted that the average occupancy rate of hotels that have been able to open this year was 44% in the first eight months of the year, compared to 67% for all hotels in 2019.

Still closed

Some 20% of hotels in Istanbul were still closed due to the pandemic effects and were planning to open early next year, according to Eresin.

On September 17,, the UK removed Turkey from its travel ‘red list’ for England after reviewing the country’s coronavirus data. 

With travel between the two countries to resume from September 23, 200,000 British tourists are expected to visit Turkey during the remainder of the year, the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies estimated.

Thanks to the strong base-effect caused by the heavy coronavirus distortion of markets last year, foreign tourist arrivals in Turkey leapt more than 85% y/y to 10mn in January-July. 

Last year, Turkey welcomed only 5.4mn international holidaymakers versus nearly 25mn in 2019. 

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