Türkiye Prepares to Cancel Buffet: What Awaits Russian Tourists

Turkish authorities are preparing a revolution in hospitality amid soaring holiday prices. The local presidential council on agri-food policy has been tasked with drafting a report on the transition of hotels from buffets to a la carte.

The reason is the shocking data from the waste prevention fund: 23 million tons of food are thrown away in the country every year, up to 50% of all hotel breakfasts are thrown away. The initiative, which will be presented to the country's president Erdogan, is designed to reduce food losses, but risks making the already significantly more expensive vacation at Turkish resorts even less affordable. MK investigated the threat this poses to Russian tourists.

The irony of fate is that the very concept of "buffet" was introduced into Russian speech by Russian travelers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Now Russia is the main consumer of this format at Turkish resorts, where it came en masse only in the 1990s and became a real calling card of local hospitality. Paradoxically, Turkey already had the experience of being forced to abandon the "buffet" - during the COVID-19 pandemic, hotels switched to "a la carte" service (that is, ordering dishes from the menu) to maintain social distancing. However, the current initiative is not caused by epidemiological, but by economic reasons: according to calculations by the local Association of Professional Hotel Managers, in all-inclusive hotels, about 300 grams of food is thrown out per vacationer every day, which on a national scale adds up to tens of millions of tons of food waste and creates a monstrous problem.

The introduction of a new food system in Turkish hotels, dictated by the noble goal of combating wastefulness, may become a classic case of unintended consequences. Travel industry experts are unanimous in one thing: a radical rejection of the usual "buffet" and "all inclusive" format risks seriously shaking Turkey's position in the international tourism market. For Russian tourists, whose share at Turkish resorts is traditionally high, the "all inclusive" system is not just an option, but a key factor in choosing a destination. As noted by Natalia Osipova, executive director of the Alliance of Travel Agencies of Russia, the abolition of the "buffet" food system may make the holiday less comfortable and lead to higher prices for travel packages. The logistics of "a la carte" service in the high season will require hiring a huge number of new personnel (waiters) to receive and deliver orders, which will inevitably increase the operating costs of hotels. These costs will most likely be passed on to end consumers. Meanwhile, according to domestic aggregators, a vacation in Turkey for Russians has already increased in price by almost a third (or more precisely, by 31.2%) over three years, and the average bill for a trip for two has reached almost 160 thousand rubles.

Vice President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Dmitry Gorin emphasizes that the abolition of the "all inclusive" format is economically disadvantageous for Turkey, as it can significantly reduce the flow of tourists to the country - including from Russia. He emphasizes that such a vacation system is beneficial to both local hoteliers and vacationers. The risks associated with such a fundamental change are holding hoteliers back from making a final decision, which is confirmed by Associate Professor of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation Dmitry Morkovkin.

Artur Muradyan, Vice President of ATOR, even states that if the all-inclusive system is abandoned, “the economic feasibility of traveling to Turkey in particular will lose its meaning.” It is also naive to expect a reduction in retail prices for food products in the country solely due to a reduction in waste in hotels in the short term. This is a long and complex process, which is influenced by many other factors. Ivan Samoylenko, Managing Partner of B&C Agency, specifies: “If hotels cancel the buffet system without a worthy alternative and price reduction, our fellow citizens will more often choose to vacation in Egypt, Tunisia, the Maldives, where it is quite possible to find tours at prices comparable to Turkey.” He also adds that “a reduction in the volume of food waste leads to an increase in the supply on the food market. And, as a result, to a reduction in prices. However, this is a long and complex process. Such changes cannot happen quickly.”

Thus, Turkey, which has created one of the most attractive products in the world in the mass tourism segment, may destroy it itself, trying to solve the internal problem of food waste. The country's authorities will have to find a fragile balance between saving food and maintaining the tourist flow. Any wrong step in this direction may cost the national economy dearly, for which tourism remains a critically important industry. The final decision has not yet been made, but this initiative itself has already become an alarm bell for the entire tourism community, the echo of which reaches Russia.