Saving Antalya

Antalya is Turkey's top holiday resort town, known for its sunny beaches, golf courses and all-inclusive hotels. However, the city faces an uncertain future after Turkey downed a Russian plane last year and Russian President Vladimir Putin promised revenge. The number of Russian tourists visiting Antalya has decreased greatly; in February 2015, 8,307 Russian tourists visited Antalya, this year the number was only 55. Apparently Antalya needs to seek alternatives to survive.  

Menderes Türel, the mayor of Antalya from the Justice and Development Party (AKP), vowed to turn Antalya into a capital of sports last year. The stadium of the city's football team, Antalyaspor, has been renewed, the first half of an Ironman race took place in Antalya last year and in May the 11th Antalya marathon, called Runatolia, will take place with some 11,000 participants to bring color to a city waiting hopelessly for tourists. 

As I was traveling from nearby Belek to the center of Antalya, where the marathon will take place, we passed a small deserted building with Kremlin Textil (Textile) Plaza written on it. I asked my driver Bülent, "Will the city go bankrupt without tourists from Russia?" After silencing his cell phone, which had such a nostalgic ringtone, a rap song that was popular in the 1990s titled "U Can't Touch This," he replied that small hotels had already gone bankrupt. He said he thought rich Russian tourists would keep coming to Antalya anyway, and that it will only be the middle and the working class Russians who will stay away. He said Putin will go down in a couple of years because of the receding gas price, and added, "At least we have the service sector; Russia does not have that."

Not everyone is as optimistic as Bülent. The waiters in my...