TÜROB Board Member Zoto Attended the "Historic Peninsula Transportation Action Plan" Meeting.
TÜROB (Association of Turkish Hoteliers) Board Member Kasım Zoto raised the region's transportation problems and the difficulties experienced by hotel guests at the "Historic Peninsula Transportation Action Plan" meeting held under the chairmanship of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Tourism Platform Director Ümit Öztürk.
Why Is Transportation Critical in the Historic Peninsula?
The Historic Peninsula, the heart of Istanbul's tourism, is home to world heritage sites such as the Hagia Sophia, the Sultanahmet Mosque and the Topkapı Palace, and hosts millions of visitors every year. This density brings with it significant problems such as transportation, traffic and environmental sustainability. The main purpose of the meeting was to find lasting solutions to these problems. The main topics discussed were as follows:
Transportation Arrangements: New routes and systems were discussed to reduce traffic congestion in the region, increase public transport integration, and enable visitors to move around comfortably without damaging the historic fabric. This aims both to improve the visitor experience and to protect the region's sensitive structure.
Reducing Carbon Emissions: For the sake of the Historic Peninsula's environmental sustainability and its ability to "breathe," reducing vehicle traffic and expanding environmentally friendly transportation alternatives (electric vehicles, bicycle lanes, pedestrian-priority areas) is of great importance. In this way, the aim is to preserve the region's historic fabric and air and pass it on to future generations.
Hotel Guests' Access Is One of the Most Important Issues
Taking the floor at the meeting, TÜROB Board Member Kasım Zoto raised the problems that guests experience at various times, particularly regarding access to hotels in the region. Zoto underlined that the closure of the region to traffic for long hours during major events such as marathons and bicycle races poses an extremely serious problem for hotel guests with airport transfers, and that a solution must definitely be found for this. Stating that these situations cause hotel guests to miss their flights or fail to make important appointments, Zoto emphasized that, in order to preserve guest satisfaction and Istanbul's tourism image, alternative routes or special transportation solutions should be developed so that hotel access is not disrupted during such events.
A Multi-Stakeholder Search for Solutions With Broad Participation
In addition to TÜROB Board Member Kasım Zoto, the following figures from the relevant units of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality attended the meeting: Head of the Culture Department Tolga Volkan Aslan, Transportation Planning Branch Manager Melda Horoz, Public Transport Services Manager Osman Kılıçaslan, Tourism Branch Manager Hüseyin Gazi Coşan, and Tourism Platform Event Management Officer Harun Tetik. In addition, representatives of professional associations such as TÜRSAB (the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies) and İRO (the Istanbul Chamber of Guides), which are important representatives of the tourism sector, as well as representatives of other chambers and associations, also shared their views.