Berlin, Istanbul Max Kownatzki will not soon forget the days after February 6th. The head of the leisure airline Sunexpress – a joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines – witnessed how the devastating earthquake took the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Turkey.
Although there were no victims among the company’s own workforce, 171 relatives died, Kownatzki reported at a panel discussion at the ITB tourism fair in Berlin. “It all shocked me personally. But it was also good to see how quickly help was provided and how great the solidarity is.”
At the same time, companies such as Lufthansa Cargo, DPD, Fiege and Sunexpress joined forces and started an airlift. 220 tons of relief supplies have been flown to Turkey every week so far. “We initially scheduled the airlift for four weeks, but will maintain it for as long as necessary,” says the Sunexpress boss.
Deniz Ugur, CEO of the Turkey travel specialist Bentour, is enthusiastic about this willingness to help. Nevertheless, the manager with Turkish roots still finds it difficult to talk about the earthquake. “It’s a huge catastrophe.”
“Everything came to a standstill”
Steffen Kassner, manager at Schauinsland-Reisen and the son of owner Gerald Kassner, is still deeply shocked by what happened. The quake triggered a real shock wave among the hotel partners, he reports: “Everything came to a standstill, many rooms in the hotels were occupied by people who had lost everything.”
In addition to the human tragedy, there was uncertainty as to what would happen next in Turkey, one of the most popular travel destinations for Germans. Sunexpress recorded a drop in bookings of up to 50 percent in the first few days. But that quickly turned around. “Three weeks after the quake, our bookings were back to the level of 2019,” said Kownatzki.
At the Tui travel group, Turkey and Mallorca are now in a head-to-head race for first place in medium-haul destinations. “In the first few days after the quake, there was a slight reluctance to book, but no wave of cancellations,” reports Tui Germany boss Stefan Baumert. In the meantime, however, the booking situation has returned to normal.
Booking orders quickly returned to normal
Alltours alone is expecting 500,000 holidaymakers to Turkey this summer – a new record. The range of package tours is being expanded. Kassner from Schauinsland-Reisen also reports that the booking situation has returned to normal. In the first two weeks after the quake, there was a clear reluctance to make bookings,” confirms Ugur von Bentour. But since then he has seen a significant recovery.
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One reason for the initial reluctance of customers may have been that many were unaware of exactly where the earthquake happened. “We need to explain more. Antakya, one of the affected cities, is not Antalya. Both cities are separated by a letter, but also by an hour and a half flight,” said Sunexpress boss Kownatzki.
The typical holiday regions in Turkey, for example on the Turkish Riviera, are safe. The holiday region of Antalya is not on a fault line, and according to experts, strong earthquakes are unlikely there.
“Despite the earthquake, you can go on vacation in Turkey without a guilty conscience. It’s even right,” said Kownatzki: “If the country were to be deprived of an important source of income with tourism, the people there would suffer twice.”
“I assume that Turkey will be booked more strongly again in the coming months,” said Ugur. That’s a good thing: “The Turk is proud, wants to help himself.”
That’s why it’s the right thing to do on vacation in Turkey and bring money into the country. “It’s an act of solidarity. Kassner from Schauinsland-Reisen is thinking about emphasizing this aspect of solidarity more in marketing. But the tourism experts know that something like this is quite tricky.
The citizens of Turkey suffer from high inflation. Marketing cheap holidays in Turkey openly as a solidarity contribution for the people in the country needs to be well thought out.
Especially since the prices on the Bosporus are constantly rising. Inflation skyrocketed to 85.5 percent in autumn 2022 and is currently still at a good 55 percent. This was rarely a problem for vacationers because in the past, the exchange rate of the lira to the euro, pound and US dollar fell in line with inflation.
Taken together, hard-currency prices for hotel, flights and dinner have remained stable or even fallen for a long time. Things are different now. The Turkish central bank supports the exchange rate with billions from the state coffers. As a result, it has only fallen very slightly for months, but inflation is still very high. As a result, everything is becoming more expensive in Turkey – not only in the local currency, the lira, but also in other currencies.
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In addition, the tourism industry as a whole has turned the price screw. At Tui, prices rose by an average of six to eight percent. This has made trips to certain destinations unaffordable for many families. Of course there are families with a tight budget, says Tui manager Baumert. They would look for bargains. “The topic of price consciousness is recognizable.”
The other picture of Turkey: The city, whose name is reminiscent of the holiday destination Antalya, was badly hit by the earthquake.
(Photo: dpa)
At the same time, vacations remain high on many people’s priority lists. “The desire to go on vacation is still very important,” says Baumert von Tui. Battered Turkey could benefit from this this summer. All in all, the country still offers a very good price/performance ratio.
Sunexpress boss Kownatzki is therefore certain: “Turkey has recovered very quickly from every crisis so far.” After air traffic had largely come to a standstill during the pandemic, the capacity of Sunexpress 2021 was again at 101 percent of the pre-crisis level . “In 2022 we were at 120 percent, this year it will probably be 135 percent.”
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