Interesting letter in the Post last week :
Dear Editor,
It's easy to blame a catastrophic season on the recent outrages in Marmaris but the British have suffered bombs on and off for the last thirty years and are quite used to them, so there's little doubt those who have already booked will still come. Also please bear in mind that the bombs in August could not have possibly affected tourist numbers in May, June or July, yet those numbers were well down . . . Why?
Well, what about the World Cup?
No. Small fry. This might have influenced a few, but 1.8 million Brits come to Turkey every year and I didn't see them squashed into the Olympic stadium in Berlin, did you?
Well then, perhaps tourists are finally seeing another side of Hisaronu near Fethiye, a side comprising expensive shops, expensive taxis (did you know you can travel from one side of Ankara to the other in a taxi for six lira?), expensive dolmus and expensive drinks.
Think about it. Not only do you have to squeeze onto a plane for four hours like cattle in a truck, but also have to pay a Visa fee of £10 each to enter the country once you've arrived - and then find the money that covered your two weeks holiday last year now only covers one week. Taxes have been raised on alcohol and fuel. Tourist taxes, but tourists will only take so much. They'll go somewhere else. Like Croatia. Or that old favourite, now very much back in vogue, Spain, where a Lo-Cost flight can be had for a few pounds - and it's free to get in once the wheels hit the deck and circulation returns to your toes! If you're holidaying on a budget, this matters. BIG TIME! Oh, and here's another pesky fly in the ointment - with the spread of shops, bars and restaurants out along the main Fethiye road towards Ovacik, there's really no need for guests staying at that end of the valley to go to Hisaronu any more, and an inevitable consequence of fewer tourists spread over a larger area is that the density declines dramatically. Hence the empty streets. It isn't rocket science, you know. Add into this mix the effect of unbelievably expensive property development that has left half-built villas strewn across the valley like cadaverous concrete carcasses. So nice to look at. Really makes you want to come back to such an attractive area. Still, with luck the banks must be close to pulling the plug on some of these construction companies. Advice to developers and estate agents - why not try selling the villas already built before bulldozing another ancient olive grove and degrading the valley even more? Have you thought about the fact that people are not buying because the area looks like a bomb site? Oh, and maybe also the fact that the properties are hugely, vastly, jaw-droppingly overpriced?
And finally, Hisaronu has a really, REALLY, bad noise problem. As in a MAJOR noise problem. How many tourists no longer go there in the evening because they cannot have a meal or browse around the shops because the bars and clubs pump out such volumes that conversation is impossible? It seems the fewer the tourists, the louder the music to try and ‘attract' those few remaining visitors. Has anyone considered the opposite is much more likely.
So, to sum up, you risk DVT coming here, find prices are becoming unacceptably high, discover your accommodation seems surrounded by a building site and go home with permanent ear damage. Could these factors possibly have an influence on departing guests? Has anyone thought of canvassing them at the airport to find out what they think of Turkey - and whether they'll be returning? The traders in Hisaronu who blame the bombs are in denial. The real reasons are much closer to home - and far more uncomfortable. In addition, the Turkish government should carefully consider its policies regarding tourism. This wonderful, extraordinarily hospitable, exquisitely beautiful country has almost limitless potential but it's so easy to reverse years of careful progress. Raising taxes can seem like a great idea. However, there is one law even the government cannot evade - it's called the Law of Diminishing Returns and it bites. Hard!
'Concerned of Ovacik'
