Istanbul hotels have found an original and, in general, desperate way to cope with more than quadrupling electricity prices. It is impossible to “shift on the tourist” such crazy amounts – as a result, hotels are looking for a way to both survive and keep affordable prices for tourists – and it turns out to be cheaper for them to invest in their own energy projects. At least that's what the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) and the chairman of the hotel committee, Aydin Karacabay, said in a statement. They announced that their immediate plans are to directly invest in a solar energy project in Anatolia for Istanbul hotels, with land negotiations for the project already planned in the coming period of the ITO committee.
As Karadzhabay said, rising energy prices have put hoteliers in an almost hopeless situation. “Energy costs in Turkey and in the world have increased significantly. While the electricity bill of one of our hotels was around TL 70,000 in 2021, it has increased to TL 290,000 in the current period,” he said. Shifting these costs to the client is risky – the tourist is likely to simply “run away”.
As a result, the hotels decided that “saving the drowning is the work of the drowning themselves” and will try to produce electricity on their own, namely, invest in a solar energy development project in the province of Anatolia.
“We strive to produce our own energy . We cannot do this with the solar panels that will be installed on the rooftops of hotels in Istanbul, as there is not enough sunlight. Therefore, we will ask to allocate land for hotels in Istanbul in the province of Anatolia, where there is a high level of sunlight,” the Turkish expert said.
At the same time, investors plan to give hotels “to each according to his needs” on a cooperative basis. “Each hotelier will invest as much as he needs. The amount of investment in a hotel with 50 rooms and a hotel with 250 rooms will be different. We will negotiate with the ministries so that this project will be promptly put into operation in 2023,” Mr. Karadzhabay assured. According to him, the main objective of the project is to reduce the astronomical costs of hotels for electricity.
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