Five-star hotels in Turkey worsened their forecasts and told Russian tourists bad news regarding prices for the next high season: a significant increase in accommodation prices is expected for summer 2023 in high-class hotels compared to the previous season. According to preliminary estimates, this is at least 30-50%. However, there is one reason that the increase will not be so painful for vacationers.
“Hotels in Turkey will be forced to raise prices in the summer season 2023 – the economic situation in the country leaves them no choice. Recall that earlier in the Turkish press, forecasts were made for an increase in prices for accommodation in Turkish resort hotels in 2023 by 15-20% on average in the market compared to the summer of 2022. But growth will be different in different segments,” ATOR said from the Coral Travel business forum in Turkey on November 15.
First of all, we are talking about an increase in prices for holidays in high-class hotels in Turkey – these are 5-star hotels and Deluxe hotels. True, there is an important nuance. Hotel representatives were talking about increasing prices in euros, which leaves a chance for domestic tourists for a less sharp increase in prices, because. ruble exchange rate depends on bank quotes.
Note that the readiness to increase the price tag for the next peak season was expressed by representatives of the Turkish Seven Seas Gravel Select hotels and the Kilit Hospitality Group, which includes such well-known 5* hotel brands as Crystal Hotels and Nirvana Hotels. “Rise in prices is inevitable. Costs in the hotel sector have risen, and the same applies to all other aspects of life in Turkey. Everything has risen in price – from tomatoes to electricity. Some hoteliers in the 5-star segment, including us, do not want to, but will be forced to increase prices in the summer season by 50%,” Gunay Shaban, sales manager at the Seven Seas Gravel Select hotel, quoted the publication as saying.
Kilit Hospitality Group spokeswoman Guzel Kiyak noted that hotels are also forced to raise prices for next summer, but so far we are talking about a range of 35-50%. According to the expert, discounts on hotel accommodation are currently up to 30% as part of early bookings. However, frightened by mass cancellations and rescheduling of tours due to lockdowns, closed borders and the sky, Russian tourists refuse to actively book tours to Turkey for the summer of 2023.
However, despite the difficult geopolitical situation and rising prices, domestic tourists are not ready to give up the most popular foreign destination, the representative of the hotel group added: “I have been working in the hotel business in Turkey for many years. And every year for many years the prices for holidays in Turkey are growing. And every year tourists react to this situation in the same way. Either they reduce the duration of their vacation, or refocus on more budget hotels. But there is never a mass rejection of the trips themselves.”
A similar trend is observed by travel agents who sell tours to premium hotels from the tour operator Coral Travel. According to them, the demand for expensive beach holidays in the republic this year, marked by the global crisis and partial mobilization, on the contrary, is breaking records. Thus, during the New Year holidays, Turkey is confidently in the top three in terms of demand among wealthy domestic tourists.
Data from the Turkish Embassy in Moscow confirmed the change in demand for the better. The country plans to receive significantly more Russian tourists by the end of 2022 than predicted. We are talking about more than 5 million Russians, i.е. 10% of the total expected tourist flow to Turkey for the specified period (forecast – only 50 million tourists). Ilker Ozkan, attache for culture and tourism of the Turkish Embassy in Russia, announced this. The figure seems quite achievable, since on November 15 the tourist flow from the Russian Federation to Turkey reached 4.5 million. For comparison: in 2021, 4.6 million domestic travelers rested in the country, and in the pre-Covid 2019 – a record 7 million. Provided that air traffic is restored in in full, the record figure can be overcome.
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