Hotel occupancy rates fall below 50 percent: Association

Hotel occupancy rates declined below 50 percent in Turkey in February, a decrease of 13.4 percent compared to the same term of 2015. Last year's rate was measured at 57.6 percent, whereas this year occupancy dipped to 49.9 percent in the same period.

According to the "February 2016 Country Performance Report" carried out by Turkish data analysis company STR Global and announced by the Turkish Hoteliers' Association (TÜROB) on March 31, the occupancy rate dropped by 9.8 percent to 48.7 percent level in the first two months of the year.

According to the TÜROB, the sharpest fall was in tourists from European countries, while Istanbul was the tourism destination which experienced the worst hit tourist-wise across most of Turkey.

In Istanbul, hotel occupancy rates fell by 21.4 percent, reaching 47.5 percent in February, compared to the same month of 2015. The occupancy rate in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya also dropped by 0.8 percent in February, hitting 48.1 percent compared to the same month of 2015, according to the TÜROB's statement.

Hotels' average daily rate (ADR) also fell by 10.7 percent, dropping rates to 88.6 euros per room. This number was 99.2 in the same month of 2015. 

The RevPAR dropped by 29.8 percent to 42 euros, while this same number was 59.9 euros in February 2015. 

In the first two months of the year, the occupancy rate fell to 48.2 percent from 57.4 percent in the same period of 2015.
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