The occupancy rate in the Turkish accommodation sector in the first month of the year has been announced. Accordingly, half of Turkish hotels remained empty in January 2017.

Worldwide data and analysis company STR Global has announced the country performance report that it prepared for the Hoteliers Association of Turkey's (TÜROB) for January 2017.

According to report which gives the first signs about occupancy rates in the whole year, hotel occupancy rates in Turkey stood at 47.2 percent in the first month of the year without any change compared to the same period last year. On the other hand, Istanbul could not escape the lowest occupancy rate on destination basis.

The occupancy rate in Istanbul dropped to 45.7 percent in January 2017 from 48.9 percent in the same month last year, marking a 6.5 percent fall. So, the city has been recorded as a destination which experienced the biggest fall among European destinations in 2017.

At the same time, Istanbul experienced the biggest revenue loss among other European destinations with a fall of 29.7 percent in the average daily room rate and a 34.2 percent fall in the revenue per available room in the first month of the year. The average daily room in Istanbul declined to 67.4 euros in this period from 95.8 euros last year. Also, the revenue per available room dropped to 30.8 euros in January 2017 from 46.8 euros January 2016.

TÜROB Chairman Timur Bayındır said urgent measures must be taken to overcome low occupancy rates in Istanbul, adding that Istanbul suffers the most challenging consequences of troubles in the tourism sector. He told, "The occupancy rates in November and December 2016 despite ongoing low prices gave us hope about the future. However, occupancy rates in January 2017 disappointed us. We must take urgent measures to boost tourism in Istanbul."