Ýzmir Chamber of Hamam Owners engaged in a new campaign to promote the traditional Turkish Hamam. After they decided that the baths and saunas does not reflect the Turkish hamams, they prepared an introductory film
Traditional Turkish Hamam owners claiming that the baths and saunas in 5-star hotels do not reflect Turkish culture, engaged in a new campaign to promote the traditional Turkish Hamam. The promotion attack aims to draw the interest of tourists with CDs and “pleasure” tours.
Ýzmir Chamber of Hamam Owners Chairman Nafi Karaca, talking to Anatolia news agency, explained that five-star hotels misrepresented and ruined Turkish culture. Karaca said that they will hand out the CDs in tourist areas.
“Far East and European countries make use of our culture. Also the events held with sex tourism in mind in Far Eastern countries seriously disturb us. The baths and saunas in five-star hotels also do not reflect the real concept of the Turkish Hamam. So, we prepared an introductory film as part of our publicity campaign. One of our female partners is pioneering our project by establishing Hamam Owners Association in Marmaris,” he said.
Pleasure events:
Karaca noted that they also organized “pleasure” tours for tourists. “Thus the tourists will spend the whole day in the Hamam and experience the real cultural essence. Setting aside some days for tourist groups only, we will hold entertaining events and suppers in Hamam.” He also said that to make use of the EU funds, they were developing a project, “Health in Hamams” which will be put into use in a very short time. The income obtained from this will be transferred to the promotion projects.
High School diploma compulsory to become a traditional Turkish hamam worker
Russian ladies working in massage saloons are trained but in Turkey we lack such an occupational training program. Youth and Sports Directorates hold some massage courses yet they yield poor results because of the high school diploma requirement,” he noted. He also said that though they supported education, they did not approve of the present application.
Karaca explained that massages on lounge chairs also damaged the image of Turkish Hamam culture. He also said that the contradicting ideas and explanations of medical academics harmed the sector as well.
Domestic News – Resource: Turkish Daily News
