Cheap Hotels Deals

DIDIM’S tourism leader has reacted angrily to a Thomas Cook promotion selling Turkey for £1 as ‘misleading’.The UK based travel agency, which is also bringing tourists to Didim, has started selling holidays in Turkey at prices as low as £1 to fill its flights.

As tourism is not exactly flourishing in the resoprt at the moment, the chairman of Didim Tourism Association, Deniz Atabay, said that the promotion was ‘simply a sales strategy’ for Thomas Cook.He said actually only a small quota will be sold at this price.He reacted after Thomas Cook made terms with 2 and 3 star hotels in Didim to start selling holidays on its website with the slogan The cheapest hotels of Turkey” for £1 a piece.

The agency sells B&B hotels at a price of £10.50 for two people for one week in September and October. The price for the Turkish customers at the same hotels in September and October starts from 40 TL £16 for a double room with B&B. Atabay said on the other hand, the £2 holidays of Thomas Cook do not include any extras such as air-con or breakfast. Starting from June, the prices are about £8 £10 per person for the British. It is misleading.

However, such news does not have a positive effect on the sector which is trying to pull itself out of the crisis. It appears as if the agency is selling the whole season from £2. Yet, the truth is different.Another tourism boss, Tayyar Cengiz said that such campaigns would not harm tourism If the aim is to bring as many tourists as we can to Turkey, then such campaigns are possible.Bodrum Hoteliers and Touristic Facilities Association General Secretary Orhan Kavala approached the Thomas Cook campaign from another angle, saying that some commercial companies may display such drastic falls from time to time due to the economic crisis and rivalry.

He said every company and hotel calculates their own cost and may sell at cost. Yet, if they sell below the cost that would then both lower the quality and cause bankruptcy.Besides, in a sector that is inclining towards getting out of the crisis, spreading such news does more harm than good. We need to highlight the good things, the improvements instead of the bad things.

We are going through a very hard period. The agencies and the hotels need to act calmly when they are deciding on their price policies. Lowering the prices is not a good advertisement for tourism.