“The yacht and boat industry will also grow in 2024”

The tourism sector, which did not revise its targets despite all the negative developments, especially the February 6 earthquakes that devastated the whole country, had a productive year, although not a peak, in the 100th anniversary of the Republic. The sector, which targets 60 million tourists and 56 billion dollars in revenue for 2023 and hosts 52.7 million visitors in 11 months, expects 2024 to be better than 2023 and even a ‘bright’ year.

While investments are expected to be encouraged throughout Anatolia, especially in the hotel industry, sector representatives point out that Turkey has only released 30 percent of tourism products and demand regulation in the incentive mechanism for sustainable tourism. The yachting and boat industry, which has left behind a successful year, expects a growth of nearly 20 percent in 2024. Industry players want an urgent solution to the marina problem so that the potential of boat tourism can be fully utilized.

“We hope to increase hotel occupancy in 2024”

Stating that Turkey has made a strong re-entry to the world tourism scene in 2022, Turkish Hoteliers Association (TÜROB) President Müberra Eresin said, “We started 2023 with optimistic expectations. “However, although there was an 11.5 percent increase in the number of tourists coming to Turkey in the first 10 months, our occupancy rates decreased,” he said. Stating that they hope that there will be an increase in hotel occupancy in 2024, Eresin said, “The hope and expectation of tourism professionals around the world for tourism movements to return to normal stands out as the end of the war environment at the international level.”

Stating that there were strong increases on the investments side, Eresin said:

“Hotel investments have become one of the areas that attract the most interest from investors. In the first 8 months of this year, covering the period January-August 2023, 93 new hotel projects with a total of 44 thousand 867 beds in 24 cities received the ‘Investment Incentive Certificate’.

The total incentive amount to be used for these investments is 6.9 billion TL. “We maintain our view that investments should be spread throughout Anatolia in terms of the sustainability of tourism, and if necessary, we believe that extra incentives should be given to create even more attraction for investments made in Anatolia.”

“The yacht and boat industry will also grow in 2024”

Stating that the economic size of the Turkish yacht and boat industry, including the sub-industry, exceeds 5-5.5 billion dollars, Murat Bekiroğlu, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Yacht and Boat Industry Association (YATED), stated that the annual growth rate of the market is on average 20 percent.

Stating that the sector around the world has experienced an increasing trend with the pandemic, Bekiroğlu said, “This growth will continue in 2024, even if it loses some speed.

Turkey has a say in the world, especially in the upper segment, which includes yachts over 40 meters. Türkiye ranks 4th in the world in mega yacht production. Turkish brands; It exports to America, Europe and the Middle East. We will further increase our share in the global market next year. We think that our country can become the leader of the Mediterranean yachting market in a short time by eliminating the regulations and injustices in taxation in the field of boat tourism.

In order for us to fully utilize the potential of boat tourism, the marina problem also needs to be solved urgently. In 2024, as YATED, we are implementing the Waste Collection Boat project in order to protect our seas, our most important wealth. “A specially designed boat will begin to sail around Göcek and its surroundings and clean the sea in May 2024,” he said. (World)