Hotel investments in Turkey fell 42 percent for the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2015, according to data from the Hotel Association of Turkey.
The Association said that subsidy documents worth USD $220.9 million were obtained for the development of 53 new hotels across 27 cities in Turkey. The majority of investments in the country were concentrated in Istanbul and Antayla, a resort province on the Mediterranean Sea. Timur Bayındır, president of the Hotel Association of Turkey, said regional diversification in investments should take place, and other markets in the country should be given the same attention the two aforementioned high performers.
“The tourism sector has been experiencing a difficult period," Bayındır said in a statement. "These problems negatively affected 54 sectors directly or indirectly. Sector players have delayed most of their long-term investment projects. We have also seen that many ongoing projects have slowed down. Such decelerating moves are quite normal, we believe.”
In March, subsidy documents were filed for 25 new hotel projects across 17 cities, in addition to three hotel renovation projects. The investments totaled USD $109.92, 46 percent less than what was invested in March 2016.
When Turkey's existing hotel investments come to fruition 4,271 guestrooms will be added to the country's supply.