Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Hüseyin Yayman met with the Board of Directors members of the Alanya Tourist Operators Association (ALTİD) and agency representatives. Listening to the problems of tourism professionals and taking notes along with his delegation, Yayman said, “The late Özal once said for Alanya, ‘This is the Riviera of Turkey.’ He made this valuable observation years ago. From now on, I will come to Alanya more frequently and identify the problems of the sector on-site. We will join forces and together we will reach the ‘50 million tourists, 50 billion dollars’ target across the country. We are targeting 20 million tourists in Antalya alone. Turkey does not have oil, but it has tourism. We will utilize this potential.”
“YAYMAN’S PRESENCE IS IMPORTANT FOR THE SECTOR”
ALTİD President and Turkish Hotel Association (TÜROFED) Board Member Burhan Sili also stated that he was very pleased on behalf of the sector regarding the visit. Sili said, “Mr. Yayman’s presence is very important for the tourism sector. His listening to our problems on-site and his solution-oriented work will allow us to breathe easier. We will host him again in the near future. I thank him for his visits.”
“THE TOURISM SECTOR SHOULD BE CLASSIFIED AS AN EXPORTER CLASS”
At the meeting, where tourism statistics were also evaluated, the following issues were discussed: ensuring that infrastructure works are carried out during the winter period, the issuance of long-term and low-interest sectoral loans, the expansion of source markets and the diversification of tourism, tax and insurance practices that will contribute to removing seasonality from the tourism sector, the qualified personnel problem, the necessity for occupation fee and tax rate regulations not to exceed inflation figures, the enactment of a tourism profession law and a union law for the accommodation sector, preventing marketing below cost, the issue of image, and the inclusion of the tourism sector into the exporter class.