Turkey is set to upskill tourism workers amid increased competition from other holiday destinations.
Brits are reportedly rushing to cancel holidays to Turkey, and instead booking trips to Greece and other countries. Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, who is Culture and Tourism Minister, said: “I believe we will soon become a nation renowned for exporting touristic general managers to the world.
“Through the protocol we are inaugurating today, we will have the opportunity to nurture the future architects of tourism, officials and visionaries alongside you.”
The newly ratified agreement aims to incentivise the establishment of more tourism and gastronomy departments at universities while introducing a multilingual education model. Students pursuing tourism-related disciplines will receive education predominantly in English, while also being required to acquire proficiency in a second language, choosing among Russian, Chinese and Arabic.
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Ersoy underscored the protocol’s significance, emphasising that human capital is the most critical aspect of tourism and that the industry’s foremost need is a workforce of exceptional calibre. Recent Turkish media reports have highlighted the burgeoning interest among students in gastronomy education, reflecting the sector’s increasing prominence, reports Birmingham Live.
Initially, the pilot program will be implemented in universities located in Turkey’s premier tourist destinations, including İzmir, Antalya, Mardin and Muğla, before being extended nationwide. Hamit Kuk, a leading advisor for the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies, previously said: “The average room occupancy rate in hotels in Bodrum, Marmaris, Fethiye and Antalya is currently around 80 percent.
“There are no empty hotels or resorts as [some reports have suggested but] room occupancy rates were 100 percent in previous years.” He also went on and added: “[I expect] two and three-star hotels to close in October, four-star hotels to close in mid-October and five-star hotels to remain open until the end of October.”
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