THE Turkish tourism industry is one of a few that looks set to benefit from the global economic downturn. Cost conscious tourists from the UK are looking for cheaper options than the traditionally expensive destinations of Spain, Italy and Greece, and this is where Turkey scores points.
According to the Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in the UK, the tourism sector in Turkey is one of fastest growing in the world, recording stellar growth in 2008 and overtaking Spain as the number one destination for British tourists for the first time. An estimated 26 million tourists visited Turkey during 2008 in order to take advantage of being outside the Eurozone, and therefore it has become an affordable year round holiday destination for those affected by the credit crunch, a spokesperson commented.
“Turkey has also been able to compete strongly with long haul destinations where fuel surcharges have been applied, increasing the cost of flights by more than 12 per cent,” she said.
Irfan Onal, director for the Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in the UK said, “We are incredibly pleased to see the number of travellers to Turkey continue to grow. In line with our objectives of increasing the understanding amongst both consumers and the trade of what Turkey has to offer, we have been working hard to develop Turkey’s visibility around the world and grow the country’s profile even further by developing awareness of the cultural side of Turkey.”
The cultural side took a bit of a blow recently. National Geographic’s 2008 ‘Places Rated’ destination stewardship survey named Turkey’s Roman baths of Hierapolis Pamukkale as the fourth worst in terms of historic integrity, a tie with three other sites.
“Unchecked tourism and ‘terrible management’ have caused some baths to close, but judges in the survey agreed that with careful monitoring, the area has the potential to bounce back,” quoted National Geographic on its website.
In its defence, the Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in the UK said that during the 1970s, a large influx of tourists meant that the natural calcium formations at Pamukkale had become heavily commercialised.
“Increasing number of visitors to the site meant that the impact on the flowstone was large and parts of it were damaged. In order to protect the site, in the mid-1990s UNESCO declared Pammukale a World Heritage Site in order to restrict the number of visitors and ensure the site was given time to repair itself.”
The authorities have also put in place measures that allow tourists to visit but within certain limitations, for example, visitors are only allowed on major paths and they must remove footwear to stand on the calcium deposits. “These methods are proving successful as the water supply is now used for preservation and some of the damaged calcium deposits have been strengthened,” said the spokesperson.