Shrinkage in Turkish tourism causes big job losses

A recent downward trend in Turkish tourism has resulted in noteworthy job losses in the industry, with Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) figures showing that accommodation and tour-operating businesses have seen the most damage. 

The number of employees at accommodation facilities and travel agencies fell by 14 percent to 257,352 in 2016 from a year earlier, according to social security figures covering the January to November period. 

Sector sources said the 42,135 job losses affect around 200,000 people when the families of employees are considered.
 
A total of 311 tour operator headquarters or branches closed down in 2016, industry sources told the Hürriyet Daily News. 

The overall employment fall in the sector, which employs around 1 million people, stood at a 3.1 percent.

Professionals say the number of people losing their jobs in industries directly or indirectly linked to tourism - such as food and beverages, transportation, construction, entertainment, arts and sports - is even higher. 
TÜİK figures show that the number of houses bought by foreigners fell to 18,189 in 2016, with a decline of more than 20 percent from the previous year's 22,830.  

A similar decline can also be observed in retail. 

Credit card spending by foreigners fell to a little less than $14 million in 2016 to $17 million in 2015, according to the Interbank Card Center, which points to an 18.5 percent drop. 

"The matter is also about the woman who sells local bread to those who are returning from yacht tours in Bodrum," one sector representative said. 

A sharp decline in Russian tourists to Turkey's Mediterranean coasts has played a big role in the shrinkage.

Some 60 percent of the hotels in the...