Turkey's hotel occupancy rates rising but revenue still falling: Tourism association

Turkey's hotel occupancy rates rose in March after months of decline thanks to a surge in the number of business meetings and the sharp rise in the number of Iranian tourists visiting Turkey during the Nevruz holiday. However, hotel revenues have continued to decline in the first quarter of 2017, a leading sector association announced on April 27. 

Hotel occupancy rates rose to 55.8 percent, up 5.3 percentage points year-on-year from March, the Hotels Association of Turkey (TÜROB) said in a statement based on the latest STR Global data. 

Hotel occupancy rates across Turkey increased to 52.3 percent in the first quarter from 50.1 percent in the same period of 2016. 

However, hotel revenues continued to decline in March, making Turkey a country which saw the largest revenue plunge across Europe in the first quarter of 2017, according to the release. 

Both revenue per available room (RevPAR) and the average daily rate (ADR), a measure of the average rate paid for rooms sold, decreased in the first quarter of the year. Turkish hotels' ADR regressed to 57.2 euros in the first three months of the year from 74.2 euros in the same period of 2016. Their RevPAR also declined to 29.3 euros in the same period from 37.2 euros. 

Occupancy rates witnessed an increase mainly due to a rising demand for corporate business meetings and a spike in arrivals from Iran to Turkey during the Nevruz holiday, according to TÜROB. 

"We hope this trend will continue," said TÜBOB President Timur Bayındır, while noting that most important for the sector is to see an increase in revenues. 

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