Didim Today

Tourism investors and local officials in the popular resort town of Bodrum believe the town should diversify its tourist crowds, attracting more visitors from Central European countries. Most of the tourists to Bodrum come from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium. Promotion campaigns should be launched in Central European countries, especially to lure German tourists, participants of a meeting on promoting tourism in Bodrum agreed over the weekend.

The meeting was organized by the Bodrum Peninsula Promotion Foundation, or BOYTAV, with the support of the Bodrum Municipality. Bodrum Mayor Mehmet Kocadon, a member of the Democrat Party, or DP, chaired the meeting that brought together hoteliers, tour operators and state and municipal officials.

Kocadon said at the meeting that Bodrum was not a popular tourism destination for the Germans. “I was in Berlin in March for an international tourism festival and was surprised to see that many Germans, even tour operators, are only aware of Antalya and they have never heard of Bodrum,”

“Eight people out of 10 I talked to did not know where Bodrum is,” said Kocadon, who is also the president of BOYTAV. Last year around 5 million German tourists came to Turkey, Kocadon said, adding that only 45,000 of them spent time in Bodrum. “It is a shame for all of us not to help Bodrum get its well-deserved share of the German tourism pie and not to promote Bodrum in a country where millions of Turks reside,” he said. Kocadon said the problem could be solved if they addressed it correctly.

“We must turn the attention of German, Austrian and Swiss tourists’ attention to Bodrum,” said the mayor. “We are gathered here to create a new tourism strategy that will bring in tourists all year round. We as the municipality are ready to do whatever it takes to promote our town in Central European countries.” Münci Karakaya, the general manager of MTS Tour, which has brought German tourists to Turkey for 20 years, said Bodrum had not been professionally advertised.

He said rich tourists in Central European countries were not aware of Bodrum, adding that only 5,900 of 20,000 Austrian tourists and 4,300 out of 252,000 Swiss tourists to turkey each year come to Bodrum. “My company brings in more than 400,000 tourists to Turkey every year. Last year those who came to Bodrum were only 800,” said Karakaya. “As a tourism professional and a local of Bodrum, these numbers are hard to explain.”

Karakaya said if people joined forces for a professional and aggressive promotion campaign and cooperated with German, Austrian and Swiss tour agencies, Bodrum could shine in the Central European tourism markets. “I promise to get the attention of the major tour operators to Bodrum, but everybody should take responsibility for the purpose and do their part.” Halil Özyurt, president of the Bodrum Hoteliers and Tourism Facilities Association, or BODER, noted that tourists from the U.K., the Netherlands and Belgium make up 70 percent of the total number of tourists to the resort town.

“Bodrum, which offers its visitors a variety of options and assets such as culture, nature, underwater, history, golf and Blue Voyage, cannot and must not settle for tourists from only three countries,” said Özyurt. Özyurt said the biggest danger of having tourists from only a few countries is if those countries are hit by an economic crisis, Bodrum’s financial losses will be huge.

“I believe that the promotions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland will increase the number of wealthy tourists to our town,” he said. If we want a bigger share of the tourism pie, we must promote Bodrum in a professional way and organize workshops and invite foreign journalists to tell our stories.”

The participants of the meeting agreed to send a delegation to Germany, have special campaigns for the German tourists and promote Bodrum at the Berlin International Tourism Fair separately in the next year’s event. Source - Hurriyet Daily News