It has been revealed that Detur, the domestic tourism agency operating for the Scandinavian market, has stopped its activities.
According to reports in the Norwegian media, the company has decided to cease operations until the end of the year. In the news in the Finnish press, it was claimed that the hotels in Turkey demanded extra payment for accommodation from the tourists coming through Detur, citing Detur’s non-payment.
It is stated that Detur is in financial trouble due to the slowdown in tourism during the pandemic period, strikes at airports in Europe and increases in costs.
It is also among the information obtained that the company will focus on strengthening its capital structure and restructuring the company organization.
Detur merged with Golfeen and Nordcotours in 2020, and the new company was renamed Detur Group. Haluk Semiz, who served as Nordcotours Chairman of the Board before the merger, has been the CEO of Detur Group since 2020.
Detur has offices in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK. The company’s European head office is located in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.
Detur had previously stated that it plans to bring 180 thousand tourists to Turkey in 2022 and 300 thousand tourists in 2023.
‘EUROPE FUND MUST BE ESTABLISHED IN TURKEY’
Making special statements to Habertürk, Firuz Bağlıkaya, former CEO of Detur and Chairman of the Turkish Travel Agencies Association (TÜRSAB), emphasized that they sold the company 2.5 years ago and that they have no connection with Detur since then.
Baglikaya stated that the example of Detur brought up the issue of tourism funds again.
TURSAB President Bağlıkaya said, “The establishment of such a fund can eliminate the grievances that may arise from tour operators selling in Turkey. It prevents Turkish citizens from being victimized. We see this practice in Europe. They insure their own citizens at the point of preventing the victimization of a foreign tour operator, and the victim “The hotels that suffer because of Detur can benefit from this fund in Europe. We are in talks with the ministry officials on this issue, but we have not been able to convince the authorities yet,” he said.
‘WE REMEDIATED THE VICTIMS OF TOURISTS’
Detur was running tourism operations mostly in Alanya region in Turkey. The Alanya tourism professionals reached by Habertürk reported that Detur stopped paying the hotels as of September 29.
Turkish Hoteliers Federation (TÜROFED) Board Member and Alanya Touristic Operators Association (ALTID) President Burhan Sili, told Habertürk that the Detur incident had a negative impact on hotels.
Sili said, “Detur did not want bankruptcy, stopped its operations and payments. In their statement, they said that they were looking for a partnership. Detur is a company that focuses on the Scandinavian region, 90 percent of the tourists coming to Antalya from Scandinavia also come to Alanya and mostly small-scale hotels. The incidents caused the hoteliers to suffer,” he said.
Noting that Scandinavian tourists were expelled from some hotels after Detur stopped paying the hotels in Alanya, Sili said, “There were a few isolated incidents like this. However, by hosting the tourists in other hotels, we resolved their grievances and allowed them to return to their countries without any problems.”
ALTID President Burhan Sili stated that they have been working to establish a tourism fund after the agency bankruptcies, especially Thomas Cook, in the past, and said, “Such a fund should be established with the participation of agencies, hoteliers and tour operators. However, which stakeholder will contribute how much and where will the money be collected. It is necessary to determine the principles such as how the payments will be made to the companies. If this can be done, future grievances can be prevented.”
‘HOTELLERS SHOULD PROTECT THEIRSELF WITH INSURANCE’
Eray Erdem, Chairman of the Board of Noxinn Deluxe Hotel operating in Alanya, said,
Stating that from time to time there are bankruptcies in the tourism sector due to the financial difficulties of international tour operators and domestic travel agencies, he mentioned the victimization of hoteliers.
Erdem said, “In the past, companies such as Tursem, Kayur, Anitur, Thomas Cook terminated their operations. Finally, Detur, which operates in the Scandinavian market, announced that it ended its operations as of autumn. Such situations seriously harmed hoteliers, while some accommodation businesses were unable to overcome the difficulty. suffers from bankruptcy,” he said.
Noting that trade receivables insurance, which is seen in European examples, can prevent grievances, Erdem said, “These insurances are deducted from expenses and the premiums paid are very low in the face of losses. In order to prevent serious financial losses, such insurance systems should be put into use and the accommodation sector should protect itself with the insurance method as in Europe. ‘ he suggested.
HOTELS 94 PERCENT FULL
In the January-September period, about 500 thousand of the 10.5 million foreign tourists coming to Antalya were tourists from Norway, Finland, Denmark and Sweden.
Scandinavian tourists made up 5 percent of the tourists staying in hotels in Alanya in the same period. According to ALTID data, the occupancy rate of Alanya hotels in September was 94 percent.