We discussed his first tourism season and his problems with Ali Demirtaş, the owner of Pizza Tomato, who has made a name for himself in the fastfood sector with his brave investment in Fethiye.
Mr. Ali, answering all our questions frankly and fully, gave voice to the problems and solutions of the tourism industry from a different perspective.
Mr. Ali, you opened the doors of your establishment on February 15th, 2008, and have spent one summer season in Fethiye. How was the season for you?
We have not reached our expectations from tourism this year. Especially among the foreign tourists, we have not been able to attract the customers we wanted. This arises from the fact that touristic facilities are scattered, and far from the center. Tourists can”t come to the city center very often, and as most hotels have an all-inclusive system, they don”t really have any needs they would have to go out for. This all-inclusive system is very harmful to the tradespeople in the center. Furthermore, as there is no entertainment center in Fethiye, such as a street of bars, Fethiye city center is not very attractive.
In your opinion, what is the cause of these problems?
If I was an authorized person, I would study this issue in two parts. One, the problems abroad, two, the problems here in the country. When I say abroad, I mean those countries that send tourists to Turkey. There are economic problems in these countries, because Europe is getting older, and as there isn”t a young population, elderly people don”t really prefer Turkey. Russian tourists are interested in our country. As Europe and Russia don”t get along ever since the cold war days, the Europeans don”t want to have their holidays where the Russians are holidaying. They say, if the Russians are there, I will go to Spain, I will go to Italy, but I will not go to Turkey. Most of the holiday makers in Antalya are Russians. The Russians love swimming in the warm seas of Turkey. Therefore, they continually prefer Turkey, and this causes problems. These are, of course, the problems that we can see. The economic dimensions of the situation should be studied more fully.
What is happening in Turkey is that the all-inclusive system has ruined tourism. Even 10-room hotels are in the all-inclusive system. They serve the all-inclusive system with foodstuffs of unknown origin. This is the official aspect of the issue, I also want to talk about the ethical aspect. As the quality of the tourists falls, tradespeople lose their conscience. Property owners put up rental fees constantly, they never think that business is bad, tourism revenues have fallen, how will these tradespeople pay their rents. Under the circumstances, the tradespeople are obliged to sacrifice quality.
Another subject is the fact that nearly 99% of the guides of the tour operators in Turkey are foreign nationals. It is not like that in other countries. Native guides take care of the customers. Foreign guides are only responsible for the airport – hotel connection. How is a foreign guide supposed to know all about the historical beauty and the cultural treasures of this country? The foreign guide introduces this play as a holiday resort, and gives different advice. And then tourists misunderstand what is said and start to haggle with us on prices. Our prices are fixed, but they start saying, “if I eat this will you let me have a discount, or will you let me have a coke?” We must find a solution for this without delay.
Mr. Ali, we as Sun Express distribute both in Marmaris and in Fethiye. Can you see any difference between these two cities, from the perspective of someone who has establishments in both cities?
In Marmaris, we also have an Apart-Hotel. There, we can give more attention to the tourists, here we only see them in the city center. Anyway, as it is the same tour operators that bring the tourists, the quality of the tourists does not change. But tourists generally prefer Marmaris, because there is a better entertainment sector in Marmaris. There is a street of bars in Marmaris, and that is the center of interest. Apart from this, there are no good quality hotels in Fethiye Center. A hotel is needed in the city center urgently. There is Ecesaray, but it is not sufficient. I had some guests, so I called Ecesaray and asked if they had any rooms available, it was always full.
What would you do if you were head of tourism?
To increase the quality of tourism and the number of tourists, I would give much more attention to fairs held in England, Germany, France, Italy and the other Scandinavian countries. I would start convincing advertising campaigns in those countries.
Secondly, I would abolish the all-inclusive system. When a tourist comes here on an all-inclusive plan, believe me, he would spend far more if he stayed at home and not gone on holiday.
Another thing that the hotels are doing is that they sell their rooms to Turkish citizens at a much more expensive prices. This happened to me. I phoned one of the all-inclusive hotels, a 3-star, 50-bed hotel, they asked me for 250 YTL. The next day I accessed that hotel”s website, found the tour operators they worked with, did some research and I found out that they charge 3 Euros from holidaymakers from abroad.
You have made an admirable investment in Fethiye, and spent one season. Do you receive any attention from the chambers or associations here? Does the Chamber of Commerce ask for your opinion?
There is a Paspatur Solidarity Association, they have made statements. Let alone become a member, I just found out about their existence recently. I”ve got a billboard up at Hisarönü, my address is written as Paspatur – Fethiye on it. I see myself as one of the tradespeople of Paspatur. This association has discussed the problems of Paspatur, and what could be done about them, we never knew about it, we also have some ideas. But nobody came and told us anything, we are hurt. I have learned that Fethiye does not accept people from elsewhere in a hurry. Actually, I like this habit of theirs. I am also endeavouring to do something Fethiye. I have made a nice investment here, and for me Marmaris and Fethiye are the same. We are all children of the Yörüks (Nomads). And my brand is not foreign, it is 100% Turkish.
There is a slight economic tightening in Turkey. This is partly due to the balance of exports and imports. Turkey should export more that it imports.
Another issue: I am asking Fethiye Tax Office to increase audits. There is a lot of underground economy in tourism, and it should be prevented. I also wish the council would spend more effort on keeping the streets clean.. I hope that everything will be better for the tradespeople, for the people of Fethiye and for tourism in general.
