Turkish tour operators in dire straits despite tourism boom

Turkey is losing leading tourism brands that operate around the Mediterranean, the daily Referans said Tuesday in a report analyzing the acquisition of ?ger Tours by British tour operation giant Thomas Cook.

?ger joined Nazar Tours, Tantur, Gulet, Vasco and Karya which were sold to European companies or went bankrupt in the last 12 years.

According to Referans? figures, Turkish companies covered 40 percent of the total tour packages market 10 years ago. Their share fall to 26 or 27 percent in 2009 and was expected drop to around 20 percent due to the acquisition of ?ger announced Monday, and Karya Tours? bankruptcy last week.

Karya was a particularly successful Turkish tour operator in the Ukrainian market.

Referans described the acquisition of Natar Tours by German First Choice in 1998 as ?the fall of the first castle.?

In 2000, another German company, TUI Travel, bought Tantur, which was running its Turkey operations. The same year TUI acquired Gulet, a Turkish company particularly active in Austria.

The bankruptcy of Vasco Tourism in Austria in 2008 was another big loss for the Turkish tourism industry.

Turkish companies are facing financial problems mainly because of the fall in margins and the financial recession. Tour operators are forced to underbid and take risks in their contracts with hotels and airways.

?ğer was sold to overcome financial difficulties, founder and chairman Vural ?ger told Referans.

?ger said his company paid 40 million euros to hotels every November and December.

?For the last six or seven months I have been contacting high officials and demanded some privileges for tour operators. But they were not interested in the issue,? he said. ?I would prefer to sell ?ger to a Turkish company. Now it is time for politicians to think on it.?

Tour operators take risks

Talha G?rg?l?, chairman of Kayı Tours, told Referans that the latest acquisition is not a good sign for tourism in Turkey. ?It was the tour operators who raised the number of tourists to Turkey to this high a level,? he said.

?European consumers do not go forward-buying anymore. But the operators are under risks due to their contracts,? he said. ?If the government does not support us we will end up like Spain. German companies run tourism in Spain.?

?ger contributed greatly to the high number of German tourists visiting Turkey, German Travel Agencies Association, or DRV, spokesman Torsten Schaefer told Anatolia news agency, adding that he thought Germans? interest in Turkey would rise in the next few years.

Some 4.5 million German citizens visited Turkey in 2009.

?ger to invest in accommodation

?ger will focus on boutique hotel businesses following the acquisition, which totaled approximately 90 million euros, the chairman said.

?Instead of selling cheap hotels, I would like to build chic boutique hotels and increase added value,? ?ger said. ?Good opportunities lie in Saros Bay in the Aegean region.?

?ger already owns seven hotels around Turkey and plans to increase the total number to 10 in the next six months thanks to the company?s recent sale.

Sourced=hurriyetdailynews