Turkey is said to be experiencing a ‘massive’ drop in tourism with Turkish resorts left ‘empty’ as tourists abandon Turkey and head to Greece in a panic.
On my first and indeed last visit to the country, I did exactly that.
I had never been to Turkey before (or is it Turkiye now?), and in my quest to cross off every country Jet2 services with cheap flights, me and the Mrs decided to try Turkey for ourselves and find out if it really is full of delights, but what we found was more than bazaars.
It turns out we didn’t really like Turkey. In fact, we ended up ditching Turkey and fled to Greece midway through our holiday, so our experience perfectly matches up with what other British tourists seem to have gone through or be going through.
We took a trip to Marmaris, along the Turkish coastline. This alone, is a tale of two resorts.
The top end of Marmaris is packed with gated, shaded upmarket resorts with sprawling grounds, facing the mountains and the sea.
The bottom end, towards the city, is not. Its offerings are punctuated by decrepit looking water parks, Pirates of the Caribbean themed booze cruises and drag acts. There’s nothing wrong with any of that, but it felt a little bit ‘Blackpool-on-Sea’.
In one memorable encounter, we settled into a restaurant on the seafront for what we thought was a nice spot for a quiet meal, and at exactly 9pm, ten minutes into my main, loud music started blaring and the waiters ripped their tops off. Apparently this lovely eatery, unbeknownst to us, moonlights with male table dancers. I’ve never wolfed down a spag bol so quickly.
It has been reported that during the first 10 days of April, the islands of Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Rhodes combined welcomed 20,690 Turkish tourists, many of whom in previous years when it was trickier to secure visas are likely to have holidayed in their home country. Tourism representatives in Türkey have expressed concern about this situation, with some demanding the cancellation of express visas.
We did the exact same thing. By day three of our Turkish holiday, we had booked a ferry to Rhodes, which cost about £80 each – and the transformation was immediate.
As soon as we stepped off the boat, we could see why so many are making the same decision. Rhodes is a beautiful island with a staggering historic old town. The castle walls wrap around the central medieval city, metres from the postcard marina. The old town itself is full of delightful restaurants, interesting shops and fascinating culture.
My main memory of Turkey’s retail was aggressive salesmen trying to shove ‘free’ Turkish delight samples into my hands and then demanding money, and piles upon piles of fake designer clothes shops. And every other shop was called Asda or Tesco, despite having nothing to do with British supermarkets.
In Rhodes by contrast, we ate fresh gyros, wonderful local yoghurt and honey, and found some original handmade Rhodos jewellery.
We then walked around the castle walls, taking in the Greek architecture, all while soaking in the 40C heat that was just as warm as Turkey’s Marmaris but with a cool breeze.
On the way back we noted another quirk: a group of about four men all wielding PS5 consoles they’d bought in Rhodes. Apparently Turkey has introduced a hefty tax on video games, and it encourages another whole cottage industry: games cruisers, who go on ferries across the water to buy cheap games consoles without the tax and bring them back to Turkey. This I’m sure pumps more money into neighbouring Greece and takes hundreds of hundreds of Euros/Lira out of Turkey’s economy.
Rhodes was more expensive, but it’s true, you really do get what you pay for – and next time we’d skip Turkey and go straight to Greece.