The usually booming holiday-spots of Turkey are “deserted” as plunging tourism numbers have started to cause alarm for industry bodies. As one of the top holiday destinations loved by Brits, hoteliers are surprised to see rooms remaining empty at the start of what should-be a peak season. 

Tourism officials are reportedly pointing the blame at three main issues – and one of them is the Euro 2024 championship in Germany throwing some holiday-plans off-course. Rising inflation, which rocketed to 75.4% in May, has seen hotel, cafe and restaurants lose out on business as costs soar.

But the main focal point is a new express visa scheme which was set up by Greece in April. The islands of Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Rhodes combined welcomed 20,690 Turkish tourists within the first 10 days of it being launched.

Huge queues snaked at borders as Turks took advantage of easier visas, and an ultimately cheaper break. It’s thought many of these holidaymakers in previous years would have opted for staycations in Turkey.

But only three months in, the Turkish tourism sector is urging the Greek to revoke the express visa offering while it grapples to rake back some of its lost tourism.

According to the Turkish press, “many” holiday resorts are now struggling “especially Bodrum, Çeşme and Datça”, which are described as being “much quieter” than expected.

Instead, EuroNews claims the small island of Samos is expected to see a “serious boom” this year, with around 150,000 Turkish holidaymakers expected to visit. This was in comparison to the 35,000 to 40,000 last year.

They report Turkish tourism operators are urging Greece to revoke the visa-free travel immediately, to try and level up its numbers for the remainder of the summer. Despite a number of holiday hotspots being impacted, the Aegean regions are “concerned” as they are closer to Greece.

A meeting regarding the removal of the visa to encourage more domestic tourism in Turkey is said to have been planned, although there’s no clear date released. 

In a bid to rescue its otherwise failing summer trade, Turks are slashing the price of hotel rooms up to 50% to try and entice people to book. But instead of reaping the benefits from having its crowds of tourists back, traders simply want to “survive”.

Mustafa Demir, the Chairman of the TÜRSAB Regional Representation Board, previously told Express.co.uk: “Since fixed costs, such as electricity, personnel and hotel rents, are fixed, while other food, beverage and cleaning costs are variable, our hotelier colleagues made their calculations and made discounts so that at least the rooms would not remain empty, they could pay the staff and not lay them off.”