Happy New Year…
As we enter a new year, it is of great importance to remember the challenges we have faced as well as the achievements our sector has attained. We began 2025 with strong advance-booking momentum, and we observed with satisfaction that the high demand for our country continued despite the adversities created by the Russia-Ukraine war. However, the developments experienced during the year were unfortunately not limited to this.
The İstanbul earthquake on 23 April, which coincided with the Easter Holiday, followed by the India-Pakistan tensions and the Israel-Iran war that took place between 12 and 24 June, were significant developments that adversely affected the flow of reservations. Concerns over the targeting of nuclear facilities in Iran made this period even more difficult. As a result of all these developments, cancellations occurred in individual reservations, particularly at family-oriented establishments in our coastal regions and at our city hotels.
On the other hand, the stagnation in exchange rates and the cost pressure created by high inflation seriously affected our sector. While rising expenses created pressure on demand in both the domestic and foreign markets, it is also clearly evident that Türkiye is moving away from the perception, among foreign visitors, of being an "economical holiday destination." Although this picture makes our competitiveness more difficult, we made intensive efforts to minimize the negative effects through the international promotion activities and strategic steps we carried out together with our stakeholders, foremost the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, TGA, İTO and TUGEV.
Despite all these challenges, significant progress was made toward reaching the targets of 65 million visitors and 64 billion dollars in tourism revenue set by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for 2025. We look to 2026 with cautious but strong optimism. With the achievement of economic stability, our goal is to surpass the 2025 figures and to preserve and strengthen our sector's growth potential.
In 2026, our country will host numerous prestigious international organizations, including the COP31 Conference of the Parties (Antalya and İstanbul), the UEFA Europa League Final (İstanbul) and the NATO Congress (Ankara and İstanbul), as well as the Scientific Meeting of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver, the Congress of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the World Buiatrics Congress and the World Congress of Otorhinolaryngology. As TÜROB, we believe that these major events will increase Türkiye's international visibility and give our sector strong momentum, and we continue to provide our support with determination to ensure they are held successfully.
With these sentiments and thoughts, we wish a new year full of health, peace and success to all our public and private sector tourism stakeholders who have always stood by us in realizing our shared goals, to our members, our employees and their families, and also to the valued guests we host at our establishments.
Muberra Eresin
Honorary Consul of Norway
President of TUROB
Vice-President of Eresin Hotels