The workshop themed “Industry-University Cooperation for the Tourism of the Future,” organized by the Alanya District Governorate and Akdeniz University Alanya Faculty of Business in partnership with the Alanya Tourist Operators Association (ALTİD) and the Alanya Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ALTSO), was held at the Alanya Faculty of Business Conference Hall. The workshop, carried out by doctoral students of the Alanya Faculty of Business as part of a seminar course, continued under three main headings following the opening speeches and the panel. The participants, divided into three groups, expressed their views on the topics of “Human Resources,” “Obstacles and Opportunities Facing Alanya Tourism,” and “Cooperation and Communication Among Stakeholders.” The workshop results booklet, containing the findings obtained in this workshop, will be published in the coming days and shared with all stakeholders.
‘A TOURISM DESTINATION COUNCIL SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED FOR ALANYA’
The opening speech of the workshop was delivered by the Dean of the Alanya Faculty of Business, İbrahim Güngör. Güngör stated, “I want to express my personal opinion regarding Alanya tourism. In order to bring Alanya tourism to the desired level, we must establish an ‘Alanya destination council.’ This council must have the power of enforcement. This council must be a council accepted by everyone. This council should prepare the constitution regarding tourism for the Alanya destination. All institutions and organizations throughout the entire Alanya destination, and everyone involved in tourism, must be locked onto this goal. Everyone must comply with the constitution determined by the council. All other activities are details of this. If such a council is not established, and if we do not make Alanya walk toward a destination together, it is not possible for us to reach the desired level. I say it again, emphasizing it: an ‘Alanya tourism destination council’ must definitely be established.”
‘IF A COUNCIL NEEDS TO BE ESTABLISHED, WE WILL ESTABLISH IT’
Speaking later, Alanya District Governor Erhan Özdemir said, “The new tourism season is opening. At the beginning of every season, there is excitement, bustle, rush, and beautiful messages being shared. After these processes, all of this disappears. We shake ourselves up again toward the opening of the next season a year later. We reach the point of saying, 'Let's do something again.' Someone speaks about something. Generally, what is spoken is applauded. Another season passes by like this. If a council needs to be established, it must certainly be established. However, entering that process with an ineffective force due to problems regarding the council's power to enforce will serve no purpose other than increasing the number of bureaucratic obstacles in front of tourism by one more. Therefore, if there is truly such a need, we must evaluate it thoroughly and demonstrate a good study. We could also gain the opportunity to create a beautiful example and spread it to Turkey's tourism.”
‘LET US INCREASE OUR QUALITY’
"When I first came to Alanya, there was a prevailing notion that high-quality tourists were not coming to Alanya. I investigated this myself through my own mechanisms. I researched what was being meant and attempted to conduct a series of analyses based on the data I had. It is very clearly visible in the country's tourism. The 'all-inclusive' system exerts very intense pressure on the market. Our tourism professionals and investors are doing things to withstand this pressure and stay afloat. What kind of pressure is this? It is the pressure to lower prices. As is known, tourism is the sharpest leg of the global economy. This is because the tourism sector is the one most affected by small or large developments. The services sector is already a delicate sector. Within this sector, tourism is almost like a child in an incubator. Tourism is the first to be affected by even the slightest interaction. Consequently, as prices drop in parallel with the pressure brought by the 'all-inclusive' system, our quality also drops accordingly. For instance, if you offer 100 varieties of cheese while providing buffet service under the 'all-inclusive' system in a hotel, as your costs increase, you are forced to reduce these varieties toward 70-80. You are faced with the plain reality of having to compromise on quality. While your average revenue per tourist is 1,500 dollars, this figure drops to as low as 600 dollars," said Özdemir. Özdemir added, "So, is this what needs to be concluded? That high-quality tourists are not coming to Alanya. There is no such thing. As long as you provide quality, high-quality tourists will also come. What kind of quality do you have in your hands that you are blaming the tourist? We have many associations with the sector's own actors. Primarily ALTİD and the Alanya Promotion Foundation (ALTAV), as well as our chambers and local governments, everyone is extremely sensitive and extremely responsive regarding this matter. Let us increase our quality. Let us enrich the market. Let us turn the market into a magnificent market. We are constantly consuming the market in tourism. With this logic, tourism has no chance of continuing indefinitely."
‘WE MUST PLAN THE FUTURE OF ALANYA TOGETHER’
Following District Governor Özdemir, Alanya Faculty of Business Administration Asst. Prof. Dr. Engin Üngüren spoke. Üngüren stated, “First of all, when we examine countries, we address them within the framework of three groups: economic power, economic power, and education-science power. But these have a starting point. In recent years, power in the fields of science and education has begun to shift from the West to the East. According to the National Science Board's assessment report, the USA allocates resources for research and development every year equivalent to Turkey's gross national product. In this sense, there is no country that can approach the USA. The USA spends 30 percent of the total global expenditure in the field of scientific research. Europe's share is 22 percent. That is, 52 percent of the money spent on research and development is provided by Western countries. However, the increase shown by China within the last 10 years is at an incredible level. For this reason, if Alanya tourism dynamics want to know where they will be tomorrow, they must look at how much they invest in science and education and where they stand today. Within this framework, we need to plan the future together.”
EXPLAINED THE REASONS FOR THE DECLINE IN HUMAN RESOURCES QUALITY
Prof. Dr. Kazım Develioğlu, in his speech, explained the reasons behind the decline in the quality of human resources in the sector, stating, “Factors such as seasonality, untrained personnel, the inability of trained personnel to remain in the sector, the lack of certification programs, the failure to meet the economic expectations of employees, the lack of rewards for achievements, the failure to take the opinions of personnel and their inability to participate in decisions, and the inability of managers to improve themselves are decreasing the quality of human resources in the tourism sector.
‘IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS WITHOUT LABOR’
Alanya Tourism Operators Association (ALTİD) Representative Ayşegül Karaca stated the following in her speech: Alanya’s most important problem is seasonality. We can solve this problem through joint struggle with stakeholders. Is human resources a cost or an asset for us? We can only achieve success when we can answer this question as an asset. Our industry is a labor-intensive sector. It is not possible for us to achieve success without investing labor into this sector. It is very important for Alanya to undertake major projects in order to overcome its problems.
THE LIST OF PARTICIPANTS IS AS FOLLOWS:
The group participant list at the Industry-University Workshop on the Tourism of the Future was formed as follows: Prof. Dr. Kazım Develioğlu became the Moderator of Group 1, “Human Resources in the Tourism of the Future.” The names of the group members consisted of Zehra Kanmaz, Çağlar İşözen, Ayşegül Karaca, Mehmet Nedanlı, Servet Şakiroğlu, İsmail Çopur, Nalan Güneş, Fatih Ersoy, Nuri Çeliker, Paşa Mustafa Özyurt, Necati Çelik, Mevlüt Uyar, Hüseyin Yüksek, Harun Demirci, and Zehra Polat.
While Assistant Professor Dr. Aydın Çevirgen moderated the 2nd group, where the topic “Obstacles and Opportunities in front of Alanya Tourism” was discussed, the participants consisted of Seher Türkmen, Ufuk Durna, Mehmet Emin İnal, Mikail Ülker, Mevlüt Kılınç, Aytekin Manici, Mehmet Tığlı, Memiş Ayhan, Onur Oku, Deniz Ören, Merve Aydoğan Çiftçi, Hakan Biçici, Serdar Gür, Cüneyt Özpamuk, Duran Şimşek, and Esra Mankan.
While Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kemal Kantarcı served as the moderator for the third group titled “Cooperation and Communication Among Stakeholders,” the participants consisted of Abdullah Akbaş, Zeki Güzel, Şükrü Demir, Hasan Çavuşoğlu, Kerem Sidar, Ekrem Curnal, Birgül Oturanel, Osman Murat Çeviker, Hüseyin Şenli, Hakan Tokay, Murat Yetgin, Ahmet Kayır, Murat Çeviker, Hüseyin Çelik, Nuri Demir, and Sevgin Akış Roney.
This workshop shed light on the beginning of the process of approaching potential problems and opportunities regarding Alanya tourism in the present and future through collective intelligence and producing solutions. A 60-page final declaration will be prepared regarding the topics discussed in the coming days.