Hoteliers Association of Turkey

Hotel investments across Turkey accelerated in the first half of the year after a tough period for the tourism industry, with the country's Black Sea region seeing a number of new hotels amid a flock of tourists from Middle Eastern markets. 

The Hoteliers Association of Turkey (TÜROB) has applied to a court with a demand to lift an interim measure on online hotel reservation website Booking.com, noting that the measure had only served to harm the country's struggling accommodation sector.

Russian tourism representatives have called for the launch of cruises between Sochi and Istanbul in a bid to further revive tourist ties in the Black Sea, a leading Turkish sector association has said.     

Another key demand from Russia was the maintenance of security and safety measures for Russian tourists visiting Turkey. 

Around 1.3 billion dollars' worth of new hotel investments are underway in Istanbul despite ongoing problems in the sector, Turkey's hoteliers association said Nov. 1, warning of a serious oversupply in beds.

"Inferno," Ron Howard's new movie starring Tom Hanks and based on Dan Brown's 2013 bestseller, could be an opportunity to revive Turkey's struggling tourism sector and to lure more foreign tourists, Hoteliers Association of Turkey (TÜROB) President Timur Bayındır has said. 

Turkey's hoteliers experienced their "emptiest" summer season, as the sector saw the steepest decline in hotel occupancy rates in August, which is normally one of the hottest months for the sector, said a leading association on Sept. 26, adding that Turkey was also the country that experienced the lowest hotel occupancy rates across Europe. 

Turkey's tourism revenue decreased by 16.5 percent in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period of 2015 due to a significant decrease in the number of Russian tourists visiting the country and rising security concerns after a number of suicide attacks. 

An increase of over 10 percent is expected in the number of Ukrainian tourists visiting Turkey this year, according to a leading sector representative. 

The head of the Hoteliers Association of Turkey (TÜROB), Timur Bay?nd?r, said a double-digit increase will be seen in the number of Ukrainian tourists in 2016, adding that around 700,000 Ukrainians visited Turkey last year. 

The Hoteliers Association of Turkey (TÜROB) has said the association expected a significant loss in the number of European tourists, mainly from Germany this year, adding that many reservations and organizations have already canceled due to security concerns. 

Turkish Airlines CEO Temel Kotil has called for tourism representatives to create a task force and to focus on Asia and Africa as the sector players have voiced their concerns amid escalating risks affecting the country's tourist numbers.