In Çeşme, one of Turkey's most important tourism center, the tourism season is expected to open with an above-average occupancy rate due to the Ramadan and Alaçatı Herb Festival.
Continuing their preparations for the season, hoteliers in Çeşme will complete their work before the Ramadan, which will begin on April 20, and before the Herb Festival on April 27.
The Herb Festival, which will be held one week after the Ramadan, where local tourist activity will be experienced, will end on April 30. The event, which will be held for the 12th time this year, is expected to create tourism mobility by attracting visitors from various provinces.
Hoteliers, who expect occupancy above the average of the past years, are expecting a "double holiday" thanks to the holidays and festivals that will come one after the other.
"We have hotels that apply last year's prices"
Cesme Touristic Hoteliers Association (ÇESTOB) President Yakup Demir told Anadolu Agency (AA) that since the Ramadan coincided with April this year, holiday reservations started to become active as of this week.
Expressing that if the weather conditions are suitable for the holiday, there may be more reservations in the week before the holiday, Demir said that the Herb Festival to be held right after the holiday will attract thousands of tourists to the district.
Stating that they are hopeful before the season, Demir said:
"We expect that our holiday occupancy will reach 50-60 percent, if we experience one click above these occupancy rates at the Herb Festival, that is, around 70 percent on average. This rate is very important before the season. Because our April occupancy rates never exceed 30 percent anyway. Our occupancy rates in Çeşme usually start at 70-80% on June 15."
Providing information on accommodation fees during the holiday, Demir said, "We have hotels that apply last year's prices. The prices of our boutique hotels are around 1300-1600 liras, and five-star hotels are around 3-4 thousand. This is the price of bed and breakfast."
Tourist's interest in early reservations
Yakup Demir stated that the early bookings have been active in the last month and said:
"We receive significant reservations, especially from Europe. Azerbaijan and Russia have also been included in this. Our tourists never leave us alone. Turkey is always indispensable for them and they spend their holidays in Turkey unconditionally. We are receiving significant requests from them at the moment.
I believe this year will not be bad either. Of course, we still have a presidental election before us. This inevitably affects reservations. It will be a bit of a problem especially if it's get to the second round. The reason is that we will be entering June. People will not go on vacation to vote either. As of June 15, we expect that we will reach the old occupancy rates again in Çeşme. 2021 was ahead of 2019 for us in terms of number of tourists. It had reached the occupancy before the pandemic. Therefore, I think Çeşme will live its old days again."