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Tourism in Uzungol declines as Gulf tourists leave Black Sea region

there has been a noticeable decline in the number of tourists from Gulf countries visiting the Eastern Black Sea region in 2024, with many citing high prices at local tourist facilities as a key factor. Volkan Kantarci, Head of the Eastern Black Sea Region for TURSAB (Association of Turkish Travel Agencies), stated that Gulf tourists have expressed dissatisfaction with the rising costs. Sharp decline in Gulf tourists visiting eastern Black Sea “Tourists from the Gulf are opting for other destinations. This season, the world-famous tourism center Uzungol has seen significant losses. The same trend is visible in Trabzon. Even during peak periods, occupancy rates for four-and five-star hotels barely reached 60%, when they should have been at least 70%,” Kantarci noted. Kantarci highlighted that Türkiye had lifted visa requirements for six Middle Eastern countries during the winter period, but other countries followed suit shortly after. “Fifteen days after Türkiye lifted visa requirements, the U.K. did the same for four Middle Eastern countries. Bosnia-Herzegovina followed suit within a month. Russia is now offering visa-free travel to many countries, with direct flights to Sochi already started. Azerbaijan, particularly Baku, has also attracted some tourists,” he said. High prices in tourism facilities drive visitors away Many Middle Eastern families have visited the Black Sea region multiple times, with some investing in businesses or forming partnerships. However, Kantarci pointed out that it is natural for tourists to explore new destinations if they face high costs or other issues during their stay. “If they perceive certain problems or high costs, it is normal for them to choose other destinations for a few years. We need to take the right actions to recover these losses,” Kantarci added.

Trabzon-Sochi ferry services start after 9 years

Trabzon-Sochi ferry services, which were made intensively between 1992-2008 from Trabzon, and were completely abolished in 2014 due to the restriction imposed after 2008 and the decrease in interest in sea travel since 2010, start again on May 1, 2023. Making evaluations on the subject, Eastern Black Sea Exporters' Association (DKİB) Vice Chairman of the Board Ahmet Hamdi Gürdoğan said that the resumption of ferry services means an increase in trade and exports in Trabzon. “I hope it happens. Because ferry means having cargo with passengers. It means an increase in trade and exports in Trabzon. Up to 10 thousand Euros, passengers can be taken together without any documents. Therefore, with the new customs law enacted in Turkey, all tradesmen in Trabzon will be able to sell export-oriented goods. Although this will not be reflected in the figures of exports, it will bring mobility to Trabzon. In addition to Arab tourism, we can say that it will have a great impact on Trabzon trade and the amount of income per capita will increase. The arrival of people escaping from the war will reduce the density at the Sarp gate, and therefore they will be able to come in a much shorter time. In addition, although there is a Ro-Ro service at the door, since the flights are expensive, they will be able to go to both our region and the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts to spend their holiday with small cars and ferries, and return to their countries very comfortably. Therefore, we can say that it will contribute a lot to tourism. We really want this to be a start for our region and province, to continue and to increase the number of expeditions." "We have 30 Ro-Ro ships in Trabzon" Noting that there are 30 Ro-Ro ships in Trabzon, Gürdoğan said, “We have 30 Ro-Ro ships in Trabzon. Besides, we have container ships. All of our container ships are leaving. When we look at Trabzon exports, we can see that 400 million dollars of exports are made from Samsun port and their headquarters are here. This is how advanced the exporters from Trabzon are in the shipping sector and at the same time, we are transporting with trailers at the dozvolan, which we call a transit document to Turkey. Since the number of dozvola in Turkey is around 10-12 thousand (They have increased it to 20 thousand now) because we gave it to Russian trucks, we, the exporters from Trabzon, also paved the way for Turkish trucks to go to Russia. The public in Turkey doesn't know much about this, but every trailer we carry comes to Turkey as a dozvola (transition document). We can say that this document, which we call dozvola, has reached a value of 3-4 thousand dollars when it comes to it."

Amasra smiles with cruise tourism

Amasra, which has become one of the important stops of cruise tourism, hosted 5,183 foreign tourists in 5 months with cruise ships visiting the district. Amasra district of Bartın, one of the important tourism centers of the Western Black Sea region, hosted a cruise ship for the 9th time. The cruise ship named Astoria Grande, which anchored from Russia and reached the shores of Amasra in the morning after its first stop, Istanbul, approached the port of Amasra with its 413 crew and 270 passengers. Tourists on the cruise toured many historical buildings in Amasra, such as Amasra Castle, Cenavo Castle, Kemere Bridge, Fatih Mosque, Direkli Kaya, and Bedesten. Apart from the historical and natural beauties, one of the areas that attracted the most attention of the tourists was the Çekiciler Bazaar. Tourists shopped at the Çekiciler Bazaar, where many different souvenirs created with various techniques such as wood carving and the wire breaking art unique to Bartın are offered for sale. Agency representative Ahmet Zurnacı said, “Currently, our ship is making its 9th voyage. In it 270 passengers with 413 crew. He made the Istanbul expedition last week. This time he came to the port of Amasra to go to Sochi. After going to the port of Unye from here, he will go to Sochi. Our ship comes to Amasra port almost every week on a regular basis. So far, we have reached a passenger capacity of over 5 thousand in our district. This number will continue to increase in the new year," he said.

Ordu stepped into cruise tourism

Ordu had another one of the most important days in its history. Ünye Port, whose capacity has been increased with the efforts of Ordu Metropolitan Municipality and has reached national and international competence, has hosted a cruise ship for the first time by signing another first after the Ro-Ro voyages. The cruise ship, which came with hundreds of passengers, anchored in Ordu's Ünye Port. Ordu, which has made a rapid progress in the last two years in order to become the most important trade and tourism center of the Black Sea, has raised the bar in sea tourism and transportation. Having stepped into international maritime transport with the start of Ro-Ro voyages with Russia through Ünye Port in September, Ordu now hosts cruise tourism, one of the most important areas of world marine tourism. President Güler ensured that Ordu was added to the route The cruise ship Astoria Grande, which starts from the Russian city of Sochi and travels on the route covering Trabzon, Amasra, and Istanbul, was visited by Ordu Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Dr. He added Ordu to his route with Mehmet Hilmi Güler's meetings. Continuing its cruise with hundreds of passengers, the ship reached Ünye in the early hours of the morning. A welcoming ceremony was held at ÜnyePort for this first moment. The ceremony was attended by Ordu Metropolitan Mayor Dr. Many protocol members, especially Mehmet Hilmi Güler, attended. Members of the press also showed great interest in the event, which is of great importance for Ordu. The captain and crew of the ship were greeted with flowers by the President Güler and members of the protocol. President Güler and his entourage later toured the ship and conveyed their welcome wishes to foreign tourists visiting Ordu. During the ship visit, President Güler also chatted with the captain and ship operators for a while and presented them with gifts. “We did the impossible” Speaking at the welcoming ceremony held in ÜnyePort, President Güler said that Ordu is experiencing another of its historical days. Underlining that cruise tourism is a very important opportunity to introduce the beauties of Ordu to the world, President Güler said, “Today we are living one of our happiest days. We are hosting a cruise ship for the first time in our beautiful Ordu. We are very happy about that. The ship here is one of the few cruise ships in the world. We accomplished an impossible and made such an impossible possible. With the passenger terminal, our Ünye has achieved a very important work. Our Ünye Municipality has also contributed greatly to these efforts. One winter day in December, we started a very nice tourism in Ordu for the first time. From now on, we realize the beauty of the Black Sea with sea tourism and cruise tourism. This will be both a cultural movement, a tourism and a commercial movement, and also a good occasion to introduce all our beauties to the world.” “Not 3 months, 12 months Ordu” Expressing that ÜnyePort will grow more and more each passing day, President Güler said, “While our Ünye Port develops maritime trade with Ro-Ro works, it will also host container works that will start soon. In our next works, we have broken new ground with a brand new series of activities with the slogan 'Live Ordu for 12 months, not 3 months, experience Ordu for four seasons'. There is no limit to our happiness today. The whole world will see the beauties of our Ordu on this occasion. I would like to thank everyone who contributed,” he said. Unye Mayor Tavlı: “Our President brings firsts to our Ordu” Unye Mayor Hüseyin Tavlı, who spoke at the welcoming ceremony, said that Ordu Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Dr. He stated that Mehmet Hilmi Güler broke new ground for Ordu. Chairman Tavlı said, “Today, we are experiencing firsts in Ünye Port. I would like to thank the Mayor of the Metropolitan Municipality for making these firsts alive. We are honored to host the cruise ship and guests in our tourism city Ordu. We expressed our satisfaction with an enthusiastic welcome.” Fatsa Mayor İbrahim Etem Kibar: “This visit is our biggest minister of labor” Fatsa Mayor İbrahim Etem Kibar also said in his speech, “We are experiencing a first in our Ordu under the leadership of our Minister. Today, we welcomed the cruise ship, one of the most important lifebloods of tourism, in our Ordu. This is the first and hopefully more to come. The greatest effort in this visit was made by our Honorable Minister. I thank everyone very much.”

#Black Sea

Tourism in Uzungol declines as Gulf tourists leave Black Sea region

Trabzon-Sochi ferry services start after 9 years

Amasra smiles with cruise tourism

Ordu stepped into cruise tourism