Orhan Kılıç, the Chairman of The Board of Kılıç Holding, who invested in the tourism sector with a boutique hotel in Bodrum last year, says that he is not considering making another investment in the same sector.
Mutlu Hazer
Orhan Kılıç, the Chairman of the Board of Kılıç Holding, active in the fields of aquaculture, poultry, agriculture, husbandry, construction, tourism and retail sectors, said that Turkish tourism is not where it deserves to be.
Kılıç disclosed that Villa Kılıç Hotel, built in Göltürkbükü with an investment of 8 million TRL excluding the land, with its seafront, sandy beach, dock and comfortable environment, never had vacancies, but that he had no commercial expectations from it.
Declaring that the hotel would be his last investment in the tourism industry, Kılıç said,” I am not thinking of further investments, as under the present conditions tourism is not profitable.”
He said that Turkey first needed to change its image. “We must not be a cheap holiday paradise. A tourist that comes to Turkey for holidays spends about 575 dollars.”
Orhan Kılıç, pointed out that with the money a tourist pays to a five star all inclusive hotel in Turkey, he wouldn”t be able to have a holiday even in a fifth grade pension elsewhere, and continued, “20 million tourists come to Turkey each year, and bring 16 billion dollars. But there is an investment of 250 billion dollars in tourism in our country. And this investment has been realized mostly by borrowing from abroad. For 250 billion dollars foreign debt, we pay nearly that much just in interest. That means we are not making any money. When the facilities are used, they get old, the technology gets old and it has to be renewed. It will be even older and worn tomorrow, but we won”t have the money for renewal, because Turkey is not making money from tourism. This does not mean that we are denigrating tourism. We just believe that the policies of this country need changing. I don”t believe it is a good idea to bring all of Europe here on the 25 pounds-a-day, all inclusive system.”
Kılıç said that neither Turkey, nor the facilities in Turkey were any worse than those in Europe, and added, “On the contrary, we have many plusses. This country is a paradise. Which is another reason I do not approve of holidays at dirt cheap prices. Are we going to have 5 star tourism, or run boarding houses? Turkey must make a decision.”
“I am not thinking of another tourism investment,” said Kılıç, and pointed out that the hotel he launched last year in Bodrum, Göltürkbükü, was always full, but he had no commercial expectations from it.
TOURISM AND FISHING
Kılıç, who is the Chairman of the Board of Kılıç Holding, one of the largest fish farmers of Europe and one of the most important suppliers of fish spawn with the largest capacity in the world, says that tourism and fish farming should develop side by side in Turkey.
Kılıç, saying that it is not possible for these two industries to harm each other, continues, “If you feed imported fish to the tourists here, they will not come back. Therefore, no matter which hotelier you ask, he will tell you that he is not bothered by the fish farms. However, they are still trying to show the tourism and fish farming industries as enemies.”
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