Restaurants in some Turkish holiday towns are sitting half-empty in peak tourist season, as many locals find it’s cheaper to holiday in neighboring Greece than stay and eat in one of their own country’s world-famous resorts.
Angry citizens have taken to social media to share their bills, including the equivalent of $640 for food and drinks for five people in Bodrum and $30 for five scoops of ice cream in Cesme. Meanwhile from Mediterranean Greek islands just a few kilometers away, their fellow Turks boast they’re paying far less than prices at home.
“There’s a huge difference between the service and product quality, as well as prices here and there,” said Murat Yavuz, a retired Turkish banker who regularly visits Greece. “Restaurants here have used inflation as a pretext to push up prices.”
Restaurant and hotel prices rose by an average 91% in June from a year earlier, topping already eye-watering headline inflation of 71.6%. The sector constitutes a third of the services economy that the central bank has highlighted as a particular cause of concern in its fight against spiraling prices.
Looks like Erdy’s fiscal policy choices have come home to roost. Meanwhile Greece’s economy is doing great
Isn’t Greece pushing a 6 day work week though? It’s certainly significantly better than Turkey’s but having to push that does not make it seem great.
Companies may offer employees a sixth working day for 40% more pay, 115% on Sundays and holidays. Maximum weekly hours are 48.
They’re saying it’s a push to combat overtime moonlighting and human trafficking (both an issue in Greece), from another perspective it makes their laws similar to the German ones. Modulo the 40% for the sixth day, our basic rules here are “max 8 hours a day and not on Sundays”, that’s also six days and also 48 hours. Short-term 60 hours are possible if the 24-week average still stays at 48.
This is what happens when you allow Putin-adjacent fascists to remain in power.
Stop going to turkey for vacation. Let them figure out erdoganomics without foreign money.
Good thing that there’s no ongoing historic tension between the countries that could complicate this already fraught situation! Hold on, gotta take this call.
picks up phone and listens for a while to shreds, you say?
I’d only want to go there for a date in Constantinople.
She’ll be waiting for you in Istambul.
DEUS VULT you to go for that date
The images of menus from ~3 years ago have prices that line up with the average monthly wages. The recent photos of menus have the prices blanked out.
The “new” price of ~850 TRY for a single serving is over 25% of the average monthly wages (2900-3200). The site providing wages doesn’t specify if that’s the average earnings before or after tax either. Prices on older menus are more like ~50 TRY for the same item.
850TRY is currently about $26 USD, or about $.03 to a lira. Holy crap, I was there about 10 years ago and a lira was about $.50!
average monthly wages (2900-3200)
I’m not sure where you found this but it’s severely outdated. Average wages were around 10000₺ in 2022 (probably mean) and the minimum wage has trpiled since then.
And I’m not sure what kind of a meal the 850₺ number is for, but it’s definitely not what you pay for an ordinary meal outside. In Ankara usual prices are between 500₺ and 150₺. Prices do balloon when you go to touristy places or places that serve hard drinks tho.
Thanks for the correction! The site I was using was a site for English speakers considering moving to Turkey. It was difficult to verify with my lacking language skills.
The 850₺ was the average cost I could find while poking about restaurant listing in Istanbul so I was likely getting touristy places. It was very difficult to find a place with prices on their recent menu photos or websites as well. I suspect the places I was finding were more upscale/touristy than local.
It could also be that İstanbul is more expensive, keep hearing that
Sounds like Erdogan is shagging Liz Truss again
Holy fuck. I have a friend in Turkey I haven’t talked to in a few years. I should hit him up and see if he needs anything. I’m sure this isn’t just a restaurant and tourism issue.
I went to Istanbul in March of 2023 and it was pretty affordable. Started planning for another trip in May this year and didn’t get past looking at hotels. The prices were absolutely ridiculous. Went to Thailand instead.
