Turkey's tourism problems are political

Interesting results came out of an interactive survey involving 1,000 participants from all over Turkey, at the 6th International Resort Tourism Congress in the Mediterranean city of Antalya's Lara Barut Hotel. This was the sector's most important meeting in 2016, amid the worst crisis in the modern history of Turkey's tourism. Other important topics besides tourism were discussed at the Congress, which was also attended by Tourism Minister Nabi Avcı. 

The topic was brought up a day before the congress meeting, at the Turkish-German Forum, in a meeting attended by Avcı. This time it was discussed in relation to the survey. Ten questions were asked to participants regarding the situation on tourism and what they expected from 2017. Participants had to choose from six to seven different responses to the survey questions. 

Asked what the most important issue affecting the year in tourism was, 74.7 percent of them responded "foreign policy." This is concrete proof of the concern voiced by tourism players on the crisis the sector has been suffering since Turkey's downing of the Russian plane on Nov. 24, 2015. Their argument is that the problem in tourism is not mainly economic or sector-related.

The average answer to the question, "What losses have managements experienced in turnover in 2016?" was "34 percent." When asked about their expectations for 2017, 41.6 percent said they thought things would get worse. Regarding the general economic situation, 70.3 percent believe it will get worse in 2017, 25.5 percent said it would be similar to this year, and only 4.2 percent said it would be better than this year.
In response to the question, "What do you predict will be the most important issue in 2017?" some 74.7 percent chose "political...