Istanbul's tourism may lose 2017, urgent measures needed: Association

Istanbul's embattled tourism may lose in 2017 and the city needs urgent measures to be taken, as hotel room prices keep decreasing, a leading sector association has said.

Despite a slight increase in hotel occupancy rates across Turkey in February, Istanbul's hotels continued to lose ground, according to data from STR Global, which was released by the Hotels Association of Turkey (TÜROB) on March 27. 

TÜROB President Timur Bayındır said Istanbul's tourism needs urgent measures implemented, otherwise, the city will lose 2017 as well. 

He also noted that Istanbul was most hit by Turkey's tourism plunge. 

"The room prices have kept decreasing in the city in a rapid speed. This has also triggered the overcapacity in the sector. For Istanbul's tourism to recover, some measures are needed urgently," he added.  

While Turkey's hotel occupancy rates increased to 50.5 percent in February with a 1.7 percent of year-on-year decrease, the rates in Istanbul saw 47.2 percent with a 0.7 year-on-year decrease, data showed. 

The most alarming figure regarding Istanbul's tourism, however, was a serious plunge in hotel room prices. 

Hotels in Istanbul experienced a huge decline in both revenue per available room (RevPAR) and average daily rate (ADR), a measure of the average rate paid for rooms sold, among all European destinations in February.

The city's ADR and RevPAR decreased in February by 19.3 percent and 19.9 percent, respectively, compared with the same month of 2016, according to STR Global data. 

The ADR regressed to 70.3 euros in February from 87.1 euros in the same month of 2016. 

The city's RevPAR also regressed to 33.2 euros in January from 41.4 euros in the same month of the...