Can you introduce yourself briefly? How did you get started in tourism sector?

I started my career tourism in 1984 in Kusadasi and worked in Didim, Bodrum, Cesme, and Antalya, respectively. I have been working as an executive in 5-star hotels in Istanbul for the last 10 years. I have experience in resorts, sports, health, cities, and congress. We set up Turizoom International Hotel Management in October 10, 2016 and we have been providing tourism and investment consultancy for 3 holdings and managing 12 hotels with our unrivalled experience.

What are short-term goals and planned activities of TUROYD?

TUROYD was founded because highly experienced professional hoteliers wanted to be included in Turkish tourism scenario. One of the goals of TUROYD is to call for passing tourism occupation law and restore tourism workers' lost identity image.

Can you talk about hotel management understanding in Turkey? What should be changed for accommodation sector to be more successful and also attain global success in management?

Only 25% of the hotels in Turkey have a professional management understanding. The rest belongs to people who manage their hotels for business income or do this business as a hobby and by hearsay. In order for accommodation sector to achieve success, there are certain things to be done: institutionalization with a professional management understanding, measurement of supply and demand, local analyses, brand management, creating various concepts and sustainable standards, in-service training, activating motivation and loyalty practices, and providing global guest loyalty programs. If these practices are followed, the sector will attain great success.

How do you see the future of tourism sector in Turkey? What should be the goals of tourism? What are the trends in hotel management and tourism and which service areas have come to the fore?

While commenting on future of tourism in Turkey, people act emotionally. When we look at the real understanding, we can see the misty air. People still repeat the mistakes. There are serious defects in promotion. Supply demand balance is awful. The percentage of European tourists have seen a steep fall to 70%, package prices are quite low, which weakens our national economy. When we look at the congress field, we see that Turkey's place is 23 on the list. Hotel owners, travel agencies, and tourist guides are not satisfied. In this case, it is not possible to be satisfied with tourists from the Middle East and Russia. We need an effective and national tourism policy. We have to declare a national mobilization program and mount a global lobby for tourism led by non-governmental organisations.