He criticised the government, while saying that more tourists visited the south of the island by way of comparison.
Özuslu said the following:
“Germany-based international tour operator TUİ recently announced that it would stop sending tourists to northern Cyprus from August 31st, raising concerns about a new crisis in tourism. However, the tourism sector in northern Cyprus is already struggling. The numbers show that northern Cyprus is no longer ‘attractive’ or ‘preferred’ by tourists. Even Turkish Cypriots living abroad have stopped coming back to their own country!
“In the first six months of 2024, around 14,000 British citizens arrived in northern Cyprus via Ercan Airport, with nearly 5,000 of them being Turkish Cypriots who also hold British citizenship. Meanwhile, around 569,000 British tourists arrived on the island through Larnaca and Paphos Airports in the south—40 times more than those who came via Ercan! Out of those who arrived in southern Cyprus, 142,000 also crossed over to the north. Among them were about 19,000 Turkish Cypriots.
So, only 1 out of every 5 Turkish Cypriots living in the UK chose Ercan Airport. The other 80% preferred Larnaca or Paphos Airports! Of the 156,000 British citizens who somehow made it to northern Cyprus in the first half of 2024, only 11,000—just 7%—stayed in hotels. We can assume that most of the dual citizens (British-Turkish Cypriots) stayed in their own or their family’s homes, and some British citizens might have rented homes here. But if around 25,000 Turkish Cypriots and 130,000 British citizens are coming to the north and such a low percentage are staying in hotels, then there’s a serious problem.
“When air travel is so difficult and expensive… when the environment is so dirty, infrastructure is inadequate in every way, and traffic is so unsafe… when the country is experiencing a surge in criminal incidents due to uncontrolled population growth… when the entire country, including hotels, is frequently left without electricity and in darkness… when you don’t advertise or promote the country adequately… and most importantly, when life here becomes more expensive than in London…
“On top of all this, if appointed officials constantly send out ‘separatist’ and ‘tension-creating’ messages, creating an image of northern Cyprus as a ‘lawless black hole’ in international eyes…
“Then you’ll not only lose ‘foreign’ tourists, but also the Turkish Cypriots living in London!
Numbers don’t lie.“
