Stating that the preparations for the new season continue at full speed, POYD Bodrum Representative and Bodrium Hotel & SPA General Manager Yiğit Girgin said that they are targeting an intense demand and tourist activity this year, just like last year.
Expressing that they hosted one million tourists by air and 500 thousand sea routes last year in Bodrum, Girgin said that they expect the same number of tourists to come to the city this year.
Pointing out that increasing exchange rates and inflation cause an extra burden on hotel businesses, Girgin said, “Many products have increased by more than one hundred percent. In parallel with this, we had to increase our accommodation fees one hundred percent in the last year. Also, the pre-season Ramadan and the election atmosphere caused recession in some markets. We expect the momentum to increase after the holiday. Particularly central European countries, British, German CIS and Middle East markets have a high interest in our country.”
COSTS INCREASING
General Manager Yiğit Girgin continued his words as follows: “There is a Euro-based increase in imported products. This is seen as very high costs together with TL equivalent and employee costs. Our year-end dollar forecast is currently at the level of 25 TL, equivalent to the markets; We are making our budget with this foresight. We make some purchases in advance. On the other hand, accommodation costs will be higher than last year for the domestic market. For this reason, it may be advantageous for domestic tourists to choose accommodation alternatively during the season entry and exit months, that is, after April-May and October. As tourism professionals, we also have a mission to do global business and provide foreign currency to our country. We also participate in many industry fairs abroad. We are pleased to see that the interest in our country has increased, and all this gives us motivation before each season.”
WE LOOK HOPE TO THE FUTURE
Yiğit Girgin, who also noted that as tourism professionals, they look to the future with hope and positive, continued his words as follows: “We will now work to break records every year. We should plan for the medium and long term. We have to act realistically with a positive point of view. We must keep our feet firmly on the ground. Because in the last few years we have seen that; compelling factors suddenly affect tourism and reservations. As a country, we have experienced pandemics, earthquakes, fires and floods one after the other. But we managed to get through the difficult days together and heal the wounds. We have to constantly update ourselves and seize the day. We need to look at destination marketing 360 degrees. We have to follow rival destinations. Now we have to draw the roadmap of Turkish tourism with more sustainable policies. We still continue to exist as a strong player in the Mediterranean basin. As a country, we are in a position to export managers in tourism. We see that Turkish managers come to high levels abroad. Our product and service quality and pricing encourage us that this season will be even more active. We hope that 2023 will have a planning capacity above 2022.”