Internet and Travel
Though Internet is the most economical and effective means for travel promotion of Turkey, you can hardly find people who are interested in Internet tourism. And one of those rare people is Serif Yenen who has prepared a challenging website.
Unfortunately Turkey is not at a bright stage in this type of tourism when most of holiday plans are increasingly constructed on the Internet. Except for a few pages prepared by university students aiming to contribute to Turkey's promotion, and some small allocations of foreign tour agencies there is no trace of our existence on the Internet. The joint project of the Ministry of Tourism and Simnet is the only hope for the near future. Despite all, Serif Yenen's comprehensive and successful website is the first professional site addressing foreigners. Though it has been launched a very short while ago, and almost no promotion has been carried out, it has a significant number of hits. We had an interview on virtual tourism with Serif Yenen who is a professional tourist guide for nine years and says "a website on tourism must provide more information than just a hotel list".
-How did you think of setting up a travel site on the Internet?
It took quite a long time to prepare the site. www.turkishodyssey.com was launched after Turkish Odyssey, a travel book to promote Turkey, was ready to be published. I could not find a sponsor to publish my book so I decided to reflect it on the Internet. Besides, there was an important gap in this field. In the end it was not so difficult for me because I knew what the travelers wanted to learn based on my experiences as a tourist guide for many years.
-What is you target in the near future?
To tell you the truth I cannot define it precisely. But I must say that I did not set up this site for commercial purposes. I believe that anything well done will certainly prove fruitful. In the Best Deals section, we are making reservations on reasonable rates with some hotels, which we work under agreements. But now I am not at a position to guess whether we will gain commercial profit from the blue voyage sales or from advertisements.
-What are the advantages of virtual travel?
You have touched the exact point. We developed a special project, and were firstly planning to convey Ephesus to the Internet through 3D graphic animation. Visitors would stroll through Ephesus among people dressed in authentic clothes accompanied by ancient music. When we assessed its cost we found out a figure between 500.000 and 1 million dollars. During our negotiations to find the required financial support most people thought we would not be able to handle such a project. But I am positive that we can make it with our team of experts. We had already used 3D graphics of the Topkapi Palace and many other places successfully in my book. This is a very important advantage to be presented to readers. Similarly, we had also thought of conveying a typical American living room to the Internet, and thus create a gallery whereby they could purchase carpets choosing the dominant colors in their homes. A user would be able to make his decision among the suggested carpets by choosing the colors of his wall, curtain, and furniture.
-What are the advantages of Internet for the Turkish travel?
First of all we must understand that a travel site or page is something more that just a hotel list. What's more, this job should be done by professionals. I still hold the opinion that Internet is not well established even in the United States. I have realized that only a very small portion of average American families, who I have been guiding for, have access to the Internet. Nevertheless, this is a very important field in travel promotion, and shall gain increasingly more importance in the future.
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