The coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak that began in December 2019 in China’s Wuhan province took hold of the entire world within a short time and caused a serious crisis. Although the outbreak reached our country late, it continues to have serious economic repercussions in Türkiye, as it does in the world’s leading countries. Taner Gündoğan, Member of the MÜSİAD New Tourism Resources Development Committee, made important statements about the situation and the future of the tourism sector.
The tourism sector showed great development particularly after the 1980s. In the periods when our country’s economy was squeezed by its need for foreign currency, the tourism sector became a lifeline for the Turkish economy by providing foreign currency inflows. Especially with the investments made in the tourism sector in recent periods, it gained great momentum in terms of the number of foreign tourists, the tourism revenue obtained, tourist spending rates, tourism’s share in GDP, its reflection on national income, its share in foreign trade (imports-exports), facility development rates and its contribution to employment. Türkiye received the return on these investments within a short time, rising to 6th place in the world in the tourism sector and becoming one of the leading actors in the sector.
The coronavirus outbreak that began in December 2019 in China’s Wuhan province took hold of the entire world within a short time and caused a serious crisis. Although the outbreak reached our country late, it continues to have serious repercussions in Türkiye, as it does in the world’s leading countries. In the face of the outbreak, which has led to contraction and stagnation in many sectors in our country, the sectors that suffered the most were undoubtedly the tourism and aviation sectors.
Taner Gündoğan, Member of the MÜSİAD New Tourism Resources Development Committee, who made statements on the subject, offered a comprehensive assessment of the future of the tourism sector, the expectations and what needs to be done.
The Pause in Tourism Affects Nearly 50 Sectors
Noting that the tourism sector is the sector most affected by developments at home and abroad, Taner Gündoğan emphasized that in this respect the sector has a very fragile structure. Stating that it would not be correct to evaluate tourism merely as a sector, Gündoğan said that any disruption experienced in the sector would create a butterfly effect and have manifestations in many sectors as well. Gündoğan said, “The tourism sector has an organic structure in itself; it does not consist only of hotels and agencies. The tourism sector has more than 50 sub-branches. We can even include restaurants, taxi drivers, museums and even simit sellers in it.”
A Pandemic Action Plan Must Be Created in Tourism
Underlining that tourism has come to a halt with the recent outbreak disaster, Gündoğan said, “Approximately 95 percent of the businesses operating on rented premises in the tourism sector have suspended their activities. Approximately 90 percent of the businesses continuing their tourism activity on their own properties have also had to halt their activities. In İstanbul, overnight stays that reached ten thousand a day in this period have fallen to a few hundred. At this point, our state and the sector representatives need to put an emergency action plan into effect and act accordingly.”
Stating that as the MÜSİAD New Tourism Resources Development Committee they had contacted local and global tourism businesses from the very first days when the outbreak began, Gündoğan said that they had determined a new road map with the outputs they obtained from the representatives.
Speaking about the measures and work that tourism professionals have already undertaken, Gündoğan pointed out the following issues:
“- All hotels have all their rooms, lobbies and common areas disinfected by professional cleaning companies,
-The technical maintenance and repairs that must be carried out before the season are being made,
-All employees are being given hygiene training and certification by professional teams, currently remotely and also in person once they return to work,
-All guest and staff areas in the hotels are being rearranged according to social distancing,
-The areas used by guests such as pools, wet areas, beaches, saunas and fitness facilities are being rearranged according to hygiene and isolation conditions,
-It is envisaged that the thermal cameras placed at airports with the coronavirus will also be installed in large-scale hotels,
- Hotel businesses are making special agreements with companies offering hygiene technologies and are periodically certifying hygienic cleaning,
-In order to reduce the socio-psychological effect of the coronavirus, which will remain in our minds for a certain period, special training and psychological counselling for staff are being planned by hotel businesses.”
Domestic Tourism Must Be Encouraged
Noting that these measures taken in the fight against the coronavirus are not sufficient, Gündoğan emphasized that at this point it is essential for our state to introduce a number of regulations as well. Gündoğan said, “Without leaving the initiative to businesses, our state should create a ¨Pandemic Action Plan in Tourism¨; the entire travel and accommodation process of a domestic or foreign tourist from leaving home until returning home should be reconsidered in terms of health, hygiene and security, new criteria should be established for all of the processes, and certification procedures should be carried out according to these standards to be prepared. These practices, to be started from the airports or the border gates, should be made compulsory for all tourism components, primarily accommodation facilities and transfer vehicles. Subsequently, this work should be used in international promotion efforts to show that our country’s tourism is ready for the new period. As MÜSİAD, we too are carrying out work on this matter in order to contribute to our Ministry.
As the coronavirus begins to lose its effect, in order for domestic tourism to become active, our state should be flexible and supportive on the matter of leave for all employees (public, private) with new planning. Our state should announce incentives and supports that will revive domestic tourism. Again in this process, state-supported special campaigns or promotions should be organized for all our healthcare workers who have made great sacrifices, and healthcare workers should be enabled to take holidays with their families under very favourable conditions.
The Infrastructure of Online Channels Must Be Strengthened
Emphasizing that what needs to be done is not limited to these either, Gündoğan said, “Our state should rearrange museum opening and closing hours until the end of the year. For example, as is the case abroad, museum tickets in our country should also be sold at individually determined hours through an appointment system, and in this way the crowding that could occur should be prevented. In addition to the rapid implementation of this practice, discounts aimed at domestic tourism should be offered at museums, archaeological sites and similar places until the end of the year. Important matters such as the all-inclusive system, open buffet concepts, and pool and beach use should be re-regulated by the state and definitely not left to the initiative of businesses. Health, hygiene and security criteria should be redetermined for all accommodation facilities and transfer vehicles, and businesses that comply with the standards should be certified. Today, domestic and foreign tourists who wish to receive tourism services carry out their purchases of tourism services through online channels instead of going directly to agencies. For this reason, we think that both private sector representatives and our state need to attach greater importance to the infrastructure on this matter.” he said.
We Need to Start the Promotion Work for 2021 Right Now
Emphasizing that the improvement in the tourism sector cannot be achieved through a national struggle alone, Gündoğan pointed out that an effective global struggle is essential. Stating that it would be more meaningful to regard this year as a lost year, Gündoğan said, “Unlike the countries that are ahead of us in tourism, since our country’s tourism revenues are provided mostly by foreign tourism, we are dependent on the outside world at the point of tourism starting to move in our country. As a country we are about to win this war against the virus, but for tourists to come from abroad, they too need to regain their health. For our country, this mobility is envisaged to occur at the end of June in domestic tourism. Under all these conditions, since the tourism mobility of 2020 will at best be squeezed into the last quarter of the year, we need to focus with importance on the promotion and PR work for 2021 right now. In hotel management, the compulsory hygiene certificates previously required only from the food and beverage and kitchen departments will now be required from all tourism components, and the state will support this as well. We must also use this special situation in our PR work promoting our country.” he said.
Stating that the establishment of the Türkiye Tourism Development and Promotion Agency (TTGA) was very apt but that it does not appear possible in this period for the budget of this agency to be formed solely from the private sector, Gündoğan said: “Until today the tourism sector has supported many public and private sector institutions directly or indirectly with the taxes, funds, fees and similar payments it has made. On the occasion of this outbreak, new legal regulation should be made and the institutions in question should also be enabled to transfer regular funds to the TTGA. For example, the institutions that have obtained financial income until today from the visas issued, from highway crossings, from foreign students, from flights and from hajj-umrah activities, as well as bodies such as the chambers, the border gates and the Directorate of Migration Management, should also contribute to the agency’s budget.” he said.
Planning Must Be Made According to the Holiday Understanding That Will Emerge After the Outbreak
Touching on the fact that the coronavirus outbreak will change many of our habits psychologically and sociologically, Gündoğan noted that this situation could also lead to serious breaks in the understanding of tourism. Gündoğan said,” Mass tourism may give way to isolated tourism; open buffets to set menus, large hotels to boutique and detached hotels, villas and tents, and pools and the sea to nature and highlands. We need to make our preparations taking all these changes into consideration.
For congress tourism, which will be a total loss in 2020, we need to make our preparations for the second half of 2021 as soon as possible and to plan our promotional work accordingly. As will be the case in cruise tourism, we will unfortunately have to partially disregard some branches of tourism from which we cannot obtain a response to our action, or to proceed with radical changes. Along with this, taking 2021 as an opportunity, branches of tourism that are very feasible in our country such as diving, caravan, village, tent, nature, adventure and winter tourism should be supported more by the state.” he stated.
Noting that the coronavirus outbreak will also lead to serious changes in the understanding of public transport, Gündoğan said, “The tourists who will come to our country will from now on want to use the vehicles they rent themselves at the airport instead of getting into taxis, and to stay away from all public transport. Along with this, new conditions should be introduced for our taxis, and as in some countries abroad, the driver’s area and the passenger section should be isolated and separately designed with special cabins.”
Taner Gündoğan, Member of the MÜSİAD New Tourism Resources Development Committee, completed his remarks as follows: “Besides being a sector that is very quickly affected by events, tourism is at the same time a very dynamic sector. Until today our sector has survived various ordeals many times -although not of this severity- but each time it has managed to pull itself together and break records again. We have full confidence that by working together with our Ministry and our private sector we will get through these difficult days as well and that we will reach the target of 75 million tourists and 65 billion dollars in revenue that we set for 2023. In fact, with the right strategies, such periods can also be an opportunity to carry our country ahead of our competitors.”