(MENAFN- AzerNews) By Mesude Demirhan
The earthquake also hit gastronomy tourism in 11 provinces that
stand out with their culinary diversity, especially in Gaziantep
and Hatay.
Omer Kartin, Head of Gastronomy Tourism of TÜRSAB (Association
of Turkish travel Agents), said that“Gaziantep, Hatay, and Afyon
have been registered by UNESCO. The earthquake hit 80 percent of
the gastronomy. There were 300,000 foreigners and 2-3 million
people coming from the country within the scope of GAP tours
annually. We lost this place,” he said.
Gastronomy tourism has increased its popularity in Turkiye in
recent years. In fact, special tours were organized all over
Turkiye, especially in Gaziantep, Hatay, and Afyon, which stand out
in gastronomy. However, the earthquake struck gastronomy tourism,
which attracted great interest from both domestic and foreign
tourists. Commenting on the subject to Yeni Şafak, TÜRSAB 24th Term
Gastronomy Tourism Specialization President Omer Kartin said,“We
think that it is a minimum of 3 months to recover the tourism in
the region. If we recover quickly and container houses are built,
we can reintroduce the region by putting safe hotels into service.'
Kartin emphasized that they are working on a road map as tourism
stakeholders and added that all layers of society should be
involved in this business.
While expecting to reach the upper level in 2023, we are caught
in an earthquake
Stating that all tourism activities have stopped at the moment,
Kartin said that gastronomy tourism was also negatively affected in
the earthquake regions, especially in Antakya. Expressing that the
damage assessment work from restaurants to the tour guide has not
been completed yet, Kartin said:“While we were expecting to reach
a very high level in terms of gastronomy in 2023, we were caught in
an earthquake. It is necessary to transform the region affected by
the earthquake into a city of gastronomy, culture, and tourism that
all of Turkiye will benefit from in the medium term. Especially in
Hatay, we are meeting with professors from the university so that
we can prepare these projects as soon as possible.”
A total of 80 percent of gastronomy is finished
Emphasizing that the center of the city should be used as a
cultural and tourism area instead of rebuilding the destroyed
places in Antakya, Omer Kartin said,“As an industry, we have two
months of free time ahead of us. We sit and think, we hold
meetings.' Emphasizing that the tourism sector must be involved in
the restructuring of the region, Omer Kartin pointed out that after
the accommodation needs of the people are completed, container
hotels are among the options as well as solid hotels that have
undergone strict inspection.
'We need to correct the perception first,' Kartin said, adding
that 'we have three UNESCO-registered provinces Gaziantep, Hatay,
and Afyon in Turkiye. The neighbors of these cities also have a
very important place in terms of gastronomy. The earthquake hit 80
percent of the gastronomy.”
All sections of the industry were shook
Ali said that the most important cities where they took their
guests from all over the world outside of Istanbul were adversely
affected by the earthquake. Kartin said,“We lost our power as
gastronomy tourism. If we do not heal this wound quickly, we will
have lost both domestic and foreign tourism as gastronomy tourism
professionals in 2023. About 300,000 foreign tourists came
annually. But within the scope of GAP tours, 2-3 million people
were visiting the region annually. Not only the region but the
economy of the people who eat there will be shaken. As a matter of
fact, the companies that tour there from Istanbul and the guides
working there were also adversely affected.”
Tours from Russia to Antalya canceled
Ömer Kartin stated that all the work in the tourism sector has
stopped at the moment and said, 'Even the people who will go abroad
to cruise ships, let alone the tours sold from that region, have
lost their morale.'
Emphasizing the need to work on the image of Turkiye, Kartin
said, 'If we don't make the transformation, this psychological ruin
will be both in our society and it will create prejudice for those
who will come here from abroad. Tours from Russia to Antalya were
interrupted. This year, our country desperately needs foreign
currency. The sector that will provide this foreign exchange to the
country is tourism. Secondly, there are tour guides, cooks,
restaurant owners, and chefs that we, unfortunately, lost from
these regions. We don't know how many of them survive.
Unfortunately, we haven't been able to assess the damage yet. We
will assess the damage as soon as possible and develop the region
together. It is necessary to put tourism at the forefront of
reviving Antakya, one of the three largest cities in the
world.”
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