Erciyes Master Plan, which was implemented 12 years ago to bring the Erciyes Ski Center to tourism, contributed $1 billion to the country’s economy.
Erciyes Mountain, which has been skiing in Kayseri since the 1940s, started to be among the first choices of professional skiers with the master plan of the Metropolitan Municipality.
Erciyes Inc. Chairman of the Board Cahit Cingi said that with the Erciyes Master Plan of Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality in 2005, the unfortunate luck of Erciyes changed and a world-class ski center was created like in the Alps.
Reminding that Erciyes Inc. was established to manage the ski resort, Cingi stated that they are trying to model the management model in the Alps for Erciyes Mountain in order to create a ski center at European standards.
Tourists from many countries, from Uganda to Italy, prefer Erciyes
Cingi said that they received various consultancy services to bring the Erciyes Ski Center to the desired point, that they made visits, and that they invited foreign ski resort managers to Erciyes, and said:
“We had many shortcomings in terms of tourism, such as roads, infrastructure, water, accommodation, food and beverage, and rental. As the star of Erciyes rose, we made very serious developments in both accommodation and social areas. As the infrastructure in Erciyes became stronger, the number of tourists also increased. As the number of tourists increased, diversified and expanded abroad, we managed to attract more investors to Erciyes, and thankfully we have come to a good point. When we look at 12 years ago, there were approximately 300-350 thousand visitors per year, but this number has not decreased below 2 million in the last 5 years. While there are only 2 lifts in the center, we are currently managing Erciyes with 19 mechanical facilities. Previously, there was an Erciyes addressing mostly locals and surrounding provinces. We have now become a center that accepts guests from all over the world. There are direct flights to Erciyes from some countries. We have become an international ski center that hosts skiers of different profiles from many different countries, from South Africa to Cyprus, from Uganda to Canada and Italy.”
Emphasizing that Erciyes has started to make serious contributions to the country’s economy, Cingi said, “According to various surveys and calculations, Erciyes Tourism Center has made a regional contribution of approximately $1 billion in the last 12 years.”
Cingi stated that they implemented a very intense program in summer and winter to reach these figures, and they broke new grounds in many branches in Turkey.
Contribution to the city economy
Stating that they started to host both Turkish and foreign football teams thanks to the high altitude complex built by the Metropolitan Municipality, Cingi pointed out that the bicycle and motorcycle teams fill the hotels for the camp in summer.
Cingi stated that the tradesmen felt the contribution of Erciyes to the economy the most and continued as follows:
“The contribution of $1 billion goes to the tradesmen, traders, manufacturers, hotels, social areas and restaurants of our city. Some days in winter, there is a shortage of stocks for sucuk and pastrami in Kayseri. It runs out in factories, it does not stay in workplaces. We provide a very serious vitality in the accommodation sector. The winter tourist is a bit more curious, a bit more exploratory, enthusiastic and has a higher profile. Therefore, those who come to ski in Erciyes definitely go down to the city center and buy sausage and pastrami. He eats at restaurants, buys souvenirs. When we say entering the Grand Bazaar, we also provide a very serious liveliness to the tradesmen of the city throughout the winter. In the kitchens of our hotels, sausage, pastrami, meat comes from the city tradesmen, and the fruit comes from Kayseri. Repair, maintenance and renewal activities are supplied from Kayseri Organized Industrial Zone, from our textile manufacturers and contractors.”
Source: Trthaber / Translated by Irem Yildiz