Inner cities, boutique hotels become new trend among investors

Tourism investors are steering their attention toward inner Anatolian cities instead of coastal towns, a recent survey shows. Coasts have been going through a period of saturation for some time, one hotel manager says



TOURISM: Aydın is among the areas that investors are deserting for culturally rich inner Anatolian cities. AA photo
Investors are increasingly opting for inner Anatolian cities for their tourism investments instead of coastal areas such as Antalya, Aydın and Muğla, which were among the top attraction centers until recently, according to research conducted by the Ekin Group.

As for the kind of tourism facility to be invested in most, interest in boutique hotels has tripled since 2008, the research showed.

Although tourism investors have directed their investments at cities along the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts and the government has been offering attractive incentives to invest in these areas for years, this trend is beginning to change. The rate of investments made in Anatolian cities has increased to 65 percent in the first seven months of the year, while the same rate was 50 percent in same period last year.

Halit Ergüven, general manager of Turquoise Hotel in İzmir, said in an interview with Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review that the trends in the tourism sector have been changing for some time. While Turkey’s Mediterranean and Aegean coasts seem to be losing their popularity, new investments in other regions are on the rise.

“The tourism sector along the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts has going through a saturation period for some time,” Ergüven said. “Since the investments have been cumulated around these areas, these are of course the most negatively affected ones from this saturation.”

Ergüven said this saturation stems from years of excess demand from investors, which led to a decrease in the facilities around these regions.

“Another factor of this change is the recent rising popularity of cultural tourism, which allows the inner parts of Turkey, which are quite rich in cultural heritage, to take their portion of the tourism pie,” he said.

‘Cheaper to invest in Anatolia’

As the key to change in general tourism trends, investors seem hopeful for the future of Anatolian cities, which offer more than just sea, sand and sun.

Mehmet Uysal, an investor from Antalya, said he invested in many five-star hotel projects in the Antalya region for years. These investments helped the region earn recognition as one of the world’s top tourism regions and earn a lot for its investors.

“Because we wanted to turn this region into a hotspot, most of us could not anticipate that more interest in the region from both inside and outside would mean that what we could do became less and less as the total tourism pie was divided by so many,” Uysal said.

Highlighting that investors have only recently begun to discover the richness of Anatolian cities and the value of cultural tourism, Uysal said these cities have a variety of things to offer, especially to those who are tired of the classical understand of holiday.

“Besides, it is cheaper to invest in these areas because they are not widely known today,” he said. “But as the demand in Anatolian cities increases, property owners will become aware that they can earn more if they sell their properties at higher prices, which is the case on the south and southwestern coasts of Turkey today.”

Investments in boutique hotels on the rise

The research also showed that investors tend to direct their investments toward boutique hotels instead of five-star hotels or premium tourism facilities. The basic reason for this is the high profitability and convenience of managing boutique hotels.

Gülseren Yiğit, owner of the Blue Heaven Boutique Hotel in Didim, said the fact that boutique hotels have a limited capacity increases the quality of service and the variety of offerings while easing the burden on management.

“I do not believe that the quality of the meals in many five-star hotels, which cater to thousands of guests at the same time, is as good as that in smaller boutique hotels,” she said. “I always take the preferences of my guests into consideration in cooking, cleaning, and even in my garden landscape. How many five-star hotels can offer customized service?”

Yiğit also said it is much more difficult to manage big tourism facilities with thousands of guests and staff while boutique hotels offer the convenience of management and ensures a warmer environment among the staff, whichreflects on the guests.

Confirming that there has been rising interest in boutique hotels for some time, she also added that many investors, who are aware of this potential, prefer boutique hotels to invest in because they promise a brighter future.

“When they make a loss from the boutique hotels in the long run, they have the opportunity to turn them into some other facility, such as a restaurant,” she said. “On the other hand, a hotel is always a hotel; they cannot turn it into a big shopping center.”