Tourism Understanding in Turkey and the World After the Pandemic
Tourism Understanding in Turkey and the World After the Pandemic The Kovid-19 virus caused the tourism sector to shrink in the world in 2019 and 2020. Various vaccines have been developed against this virus, the effects of which are still strong. During the pandemic, countries could not take tourists to their countries and suffered great economic difficulties due to the lack of tourism mobility. In 2021, some countries have opened themselves to tourism, but the movement possibilities of tourists are very limited.
The coronavirus, which emerged in Wuhan, China in 2019, has still not lost its effect in mid-2021. Although the threat of 2020 is decreasing and vaccines are reaching more and more people, it is possible to say that there is still more time before we can fully return to normal. In this process, the countries suffered from great economic difficulties. To give an example, the US economy shrank by 3.5 percent in 2020. Due to the quarantine, people have been confined to their homes and many people have been unemployed. The tourism sector is among the sectors most affected by this virus. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the tourism sector in 2020 experienced a decrease of 74% compared to the previous year. In 2020, a loss of approximately 1.3 trillion dollars was experienced in the tourism sector. The pandemic has also left great damage on Turkey.
Turkey, which is one of the countries that attract the most tourists in the world, received much less tourists in 2020 compared to 2019. While the number of tourists coming to Turkey was 41 million between January and October 2019, this number decreased by 72% to 11.2 million in the same period of 2020. This is a huge loss for countries such as Turkey, where the tourism sector occupies a large place in the economy. The tourism sector has lost more than 60% of its income in 2020.
Revenue figures for 2019 are expected to be reached only in 2023. The tourism sector, which is expected to reach an income between 20 and 27 billion dollars in 2021, is expected to reach 34.5 billion dollars in 2019 only in 2023. Until this process is over, the countries’ taking precautions against the disease can play an important role in the choice of the country of the tourists. Countries that are more careful in their hygiene and health conditions will attract more visitors than countries that do not.
Some countries have taken various measures to prevent the tourism sector from regressing. For example, short-time working allowance is provided in Turkey. In this way, it is aimed to prevent the decrease in employment. Some credit, invoice and tax debts are postponed to future dates. Due to the prolongation of the isolation process in 2021; The demand for outdoor activities such as cycling, hiking, mountaineering, trekking and nature tourism will increase. Travel insurance and other types of travel guarantees will become more important to tourists and people will pay attention to them. In tourism, prices that seem more attractive than before will come to the fore.
Companies will adjust their prices according to the prices of rival companies and will try to attract people who are afraid to travel due to the pandemic with attractive prices. Due to security concerns and virus measures abroad, people will try to travel more in their own countries. We can say that domestic tourism will increase in this way. As people’s tourism opportunities have been lost due to the pandemic, people have started to look for new solutions. Thanks to the progress of digitalization and technology, virtual reality tourism has started to gain importance. Virtual reality glasses have started to become widespread during the pandemic and tourism companies also want to benefit from it.
We can now visit museums, historical sites and cities from where we sit at home. After the pandemic, tourism companies are giving their customers a trial tour using virtual reality glasses before booking their resorts, so tourists can make healthier decisions. In short, after the pandemic; tourism companies will try to host customers who are afraid to travel by using digital and virtual environments.
