Turkish hotels are charging Turks up to three times more than German tourists for the same all-inclusive resort vacations, in a dual pricing system that favors foreign visitors while pricing out the country’s own middle and working class, the Sözcü daily reported on Tuesday.
Germans are booking ultra-luxury, beachfront vacations in Alanya for as little as 4,474 lira ($115) a night — airfare and airport transfers included.
The same room in the same hotel costs Turkish citizens 12,096 lira ($309) per night, with additional charges for transportation pushing the price up to 14,000 lira ($357).
German retirees on pensions can afford 10-day stays in these resorts, while the average Turkish retiree can barely afford one night.
Turkey’s tourism deals are being marketed in discount grocery store flyers in Germany but remain inaccessible to many Turkish citizens even with early reservations.
The gap is even more dramatic for minimum wage earners: A German worker on minimum wage can afford a 15-day Turkish vacation, while a Turkish minimum wage earner can afford just 1.8 days.
Even Turkey’s average salaried worker, earning around 30,000 lira a month, cannot afford three full days in these resorts.
Tourism operators defend the two-tiered pricing as a strategy to accumulate more stable foreign currencies as opposed to the lira, but critics say it deepens inequality and effectively shuts out locals from enjoying their own country’s vacation spots.
The disparity has sparked a backlash on social media and fueled criticism of the government for not enforcing equal pricing as Turks see themselves sidelined in their own country.
While Turkey’s coastlines glitter in travel brochures across Europe, many Turkish citizens can only watch from a distance — priced out of their own paradise.