Travel

Dead Season

What has become of Turkey’s formerly bustling holiday resorts? Emin Özmen explores the eerily empty tourist spots and how local proprietors are adapting to changing visitor demographics

Emin Özmen

Emin Özmen Local souvenir seller rests during the day on a coach in Cappadocia, which is a located in the central Anatolian plateau within a volcanic landscape sculpted by erosion into a succession of mountai (...)

Since its rise to power in 2014, the so-called Islamic State has targeted tourist destinations across Europe and throughout the Mediterranean region. The attacks, relatively inexpensive for the self-proclaimed caliphate to carry out, are intended not only to sow fear and project power but also to strike a heavy blow to economies dependent on tourism. 

Few economies have been hit harder by this than Turkey’s. In 2014 it played host to 37 million visitors, making it the 6th most popular tourist destination in the world that year. That number has since plummeted in the wake of attacks on its main airport, its historic Sultanahmet district, and Istiklal, a wide pedestrian boulevard popular with tourists, as well as a failed military coup and a political crackdown.

Emin Özmen Empty pool seen in Pamukkale, known as "Cotton Castle" for its white travertine terraces. Denizli, Turkey. 2017. Most of the tourists are now Turkish, Arabic and Asian. The owner of a restaurant (...)
Emin Özmen An empty tea house in Cappadocia. Cappadocia, Turkey. 2017. © Emin Özmen | Magnum Photos

In 2016, Turkey welcomed only 25.3 million tourists, according to the government figures.

Emin Özmen photographed Turkey’s deserted seaside resorts and ancient ruins that were brimming with tourists just three years earlier. Here, Özmen discusses photographing the dead resorts as they cope with a drop in numbers and adapt to a change in demographic of visitor.

Emin Özmen A security guard surveys the Acropolis with binoculars, in the ancient site of Pergamon. The Acropolis, located on top of a hill, has the most important remains in Pergamon. Employees says that the (...)
Emin Özmen Tourists admire the view from the remains of the ancient city, near the Antique pool. Denizli, Turkey. 2017. Pamukkale is a remarkably well-preserved site of the ancient Roman city "Hierapolis." (...)

What sort of scenes do you think you’d have been photographing if the holiday resorts were still thriving? 

Usually, by the beginning of the season in April, the airports are beginning to welcome millions of tourists. Thousands of resorts have to be filled, from Antalya, the Mediterranean resort city which has been visited between 7 and 10 millions of tourists each year for its shining sun, nature and beautiful beaches to the Aegean side, known for its antique Byzantine cities, which have been standing for thousands of years.

Emin Özmen A Turkish man sits on an abandoned chair at Salt Lake. Konya, Turkey. 2017. © Emin Özmen | Magnum Photos
Emin Özmen Security guard stands near Analipsis Church. Aksaray, Turkey. 2017. © Emin Özmen | Magnum Photos

Visitors would have had to book their rooms some months before, sometimes even as much as a year in advance. All the beaches would be crowded, mostly filled with Russians, Germans, and other Europeans. Normally, it’s not very easy to find an empty sunbed.

The resorts used to be full and tourists would spend most of their holidays at all-inclusive resorts that provided everything: swimming pools, bars, open buffets from the morning until the night and private beaches. So I guess I would have been photographing crowded beaches and resorts with lots of people from different cultures drinking, eating and resting.

Emin Özmen Boys sleep near the museum in Hierapolis, an ancient site in Pamukkale. Pamukkale is the remarkably well-preserved site of the ancient Roman city "Hierapolis." Rich Romans came here for the “water (...)

Did it feel like the decline happened gradually or did it feel like it shut down very quickly, all at once?

Turkey’s wealth of natural landscapes and historical treasures have been impacted by conflict, terror and the consequences of Erdogan politics, for example, following Turkey’s shooting-down of a Russian jet, a now-lifted ban was placed prohibiting Russian tourists from visiting the country. According to the Tourism ministry, 42 million people visited Turkey in 2015 compared to 25 million in 2016. It was going down gradually until the bloody coup attempt but after July 2016 it shut down very quickly.

"According to the Tourism ministry, 42 million people visited Turkey in 2015 compared to 25 million in 2016"

- Emin Özmen

What are some of the tourist spots you visited, and how have they changed?

I have been visiting tourist destinations from the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts to central Anatolia, and I met many people who are living with the profound effects of the loss of tourism since 2015. I visited Bodrum, Kas, Side, Antalya, antique sites Ephesus, Pamukkale and Pergamon, Cappadocia, Istanbul, Konya Salt Lake, Safranbolu – The most famous and appreciated places in Turkey.

Thousands of people have lost their jobs. There are empty streets, empty beaches, empty museums, empty hotels and restaurants, stores for sale or to let.

Emin Özmen A woman and her son stand near the sea in an empty resort in Side. The Turkish tourism industry has been deeply effected after several terror attacks in Istanbul, Ankara, Diyarbakir, Bursa, and a b (...)
Emin Özmen People rest on sun loungers in an empty resort in Side. Side, Antalya, Turkey. 2017. A very few resorts are full with Russian tourists but most of them are nearly empty. The other tourists are ma (...)
Emin Özmen On the weekend, people walk near the Pamukkale "Cotton Castle," named for its white travertine terraces. Pamukkale is also the site of the remarkably well-preserved ruins of the Greek-Roman city of (...)

Enver, 43, a camel rider in Cappadocia, told me: “Two years ago, I had four tours in a day, now I have to be happy if I can do one tour in a week, there are no tourists here anymore.” This region suffers a lot from the lack of tourists. A lot of restaurants, hotels and touristic attractions are now closed and the historical sites are empty or half empty. 

"Two years ago, I had four tours in a day, now I have to be happy if I can do one tour in a week, there is no tourists here anymore"

- Enver, 43, a camel rider in Cappadocia
Emin Özmen Enver, 43, camel rider. "Two years ago, I had 4 tours in a day, now I have to be happy if I can do one tour in a week, there are no tourists here anymore." This region suffers a lot from the lack o (...)

Hayati Simsek, a 50-year-old man who organizes boat tours in Side (Antalya), told me that they lost almost all German tourists after the terror attacks, but also mostly after the latest political tensions between Erdogan and Merkel during Turkey’s referendum. Earlier this year, Erdoğan compared German officials to Nazis after local authorities blocked Turkish politicians from speaking at rallies ahead of a Turkish referendum on expanding the president’s powers.

I also met with an estate agent in Istanbul. He was a tour-guide agent in Istanbul until 2016 when the lack of tourists pushed him to reconvert professionally.

Emin Özmen People stand in front of a closed store in Istanbul's famous Istiklal street. The sign, says "Kiralik" or "for rent" in Turkish. Istanbul's Istiklal street is one of Istanbul's top tourist attracti (...)
Emin Özmen Sercan, 36 years old and his dog Dori. He had been working here as a security guard for 6 years. He says normally they have around 2 million visitors annually. "But since 2015 we lost at least 60% (...)

I’ve heard a lot of stories about people who had owned hotels or restaurants for 10, 20 years and lost everything because of this crisis.

In Pamukkale a restaurant owner told me that on weekends there were still local and Asian tourists, but nobody was there on weekdays. He estimates the total loss of tourists due to the crisis at 70%.

 

"I tried to speak more with the shop’s employees but they were uncomfortable speaking about it. I felt same everywhere. It's a bit taboo.
"

- Emin Özmen

When I was in Pergamon (a famous antique site) this summer, it was almost empty, I saw just six tourists, all Turkish, no foreigners. I met with two security guards, they were bored and sitting in front of the museum souvenir shop. Mehmet, one of the security guards, told me they are down more than 80% this year. He said it was hard last year but this year it is totally empty.

In Pergamon’s Akropol, the cafeteria owner told me that they have lost 90% of tourists. Coffee and gifts shops were all empty. Few tourists were visiting the site. I tried to speak more with the shop’s employees but they were uncomfortable speaking about it. I felt same everywhere. It’s a bit taboo.

Emin Özmen Local tourists visit the empty site. It was perhaps the world's most famous ancient medical center, and is the second-most important site in Pergamon after the Acropolis. Mehmet - (security guard) (...)
Emin Özmen A Turkish tourist stands near a horse livery in Goreme. This region suffers a lot from the lack of tourists. A lot of restaurants, hotels and touristic attractions are now closed and the historical (...)
Emin Özmen Arab tourists stand near the wall in Blue Mosque in Istanbul. Turkey, Istanbul. 2017 © Emin Özmen | Magnum Photos

After, I went to Ephesus. It was a little better but I visited this site in 2008 and its was so crowded that it was hard to move around. This time it was different. Museum employees didn’t give me any specific numbers about visitors, they did not want to speak. I met with Sercan, a 36-year-old who had been working there as a security guard for 6 years. He said they would normally have around 2 million visitors yearly, “but since 2015 we lost like 60% of them; now we have only Asian (Chinese and Japanese) tourists”. 

In front of the Ephesus Antique city, there were about 20 restaurants, I talked with one of the restaurants’ owners. He said, “I had 28 employees in 2015, now only 13 – we are trying to survive with only local tourists.” He didn’t want to give me his name.

Emin Özmen Tourists walk past the Ephesus Amphitheatre. Izmir, Ephesus, Turkey. 2017. Museum employees didn't want to speak about the tourism issue but the security guard says normally they have around 2 mil (...)
Emin Özmen Woman stands in Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul. Istanbul, Turkey. 2017. © Emin Özmen | Magnum Photos
Emin Özmen Local tourists swim near Lycian Tombs in Simena. Turkey. Antalya. Simena. 2017. © Emin Özmen | Magnum Photos

Where are the tourists coming from now?

Europeans frightened by the attacks and the autocratic drift of the Turkish regime, they deserted especially Istanbul. But Saudis, Iranians, Kuwaitis flock to enjoy a city with freer than the Gulf. A paradox as Islamic-conservative President Recep Tayyip Erdogan questions the model to become a leader in the Muslim world.

According to the Turkish Ministry of Tourism, the Saudis are now third in the rank of foreign tourists visiting Istanbul, with 413,273 arrivals for the first eight months of 2017, just behind the Iranians (526,084) and the Germans, who retain the top of the ranking (656 428) despite the vagaries of the German-Turkish relationship. Until 2016, the Saudis ranked tenth.

 

Emin Özmen A boy plays on his phone. This resort suffers from a lack of German tourists (their main clients before politic crisis between Germany and Ankara). But slowly Russian tourists are replacing them, (...)
Emin Özmen Closed souvenir stores seen in Cappadocia, located in the central Anatolian plateau within a volcanic landscape sculpted by erosion into a succession of mountain ridges. This region suffers a lot (...)

What do you think is the future for Turkey’s tourism industry?

It’s not clear. Mostly it responds to the current political relations with European, Russian and Arab countries. I think it won’t change until its politicians become more tranquil in their relations instead of aggressive, especially at a time when European officials are increasing criticism of President Erdogan. But for now, I see more and more shisha places, Arabic restaurants and stores. Turkey is trying to attract Arabs tourists.

Emin Özmen Pamukkale is a remarkably well-preserved site of the ancient Roman city "Hierapolis." Rich Romans were coming here for the "water cure" from the mineral springs. The site has been damaged by frequ (...)
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