Sunday, August 4, 2024 A local tour guide has called on Turkey’s government to introduce stricter rules to regulate tourism accommodation, advocating for a new tourist tax. Zekeriya Şen, the founder of personalized travel firm Fest Travel, warned that current tourism practices in Turkey, particularly in Istanbul, are not suitable. Mr.
Şen urged the city’s mayor , Ekrem İmamoğlu, to impose a “ban on renting apartments to tourists or take very drastic measures to solve the housing crisis caused by tourism.” He emphasized that uncontrolled tourism is turning locals “poorer and less self-sufficient” and called for major changes. Like several other European holiday hotspots, Turkey faces a growing number of tourists, leading to calls from locals for extensive measures to contain and limit the negative impacts of over-tourism.
Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced a new tourism management plan for Phaselis after backlash from locals..