The Hotel Association of Turkey (TÜROB) has filed a motion with a court, requesting the annulment of a ruling that suspended the activities of online price aggregator site, "booking.com" in Turkey, following a Turkish Travel Agencies Association (TÜRSAB) lawsuit over unfair competition.

A statement issued by TÜROB said it has taken the action in hope the court would lift the suspension on booking.com and allow Turkish consumers to book a hotel through the site.

It said the ruling, which did not allow any local hotel bookings through the site, has worsened the situation for the already troubled accommodation sector.

The ruling has hit large and small enterprises alike, which received a large part of their market share via booking.com.

Though the statement emphasized on the importance of rule of law and the necessity to regulate booking.com's practices that lead to unfair competition, it also pointed out that the suspension on the website's activities has negatively affected the tourism sector.

Earlier, TÜRSAB Secretary-General Çetin Gürcün said travel fare and hotel fee aggregator websites, such as expedia.com, trivago.com and tripadvisor.com, all carry out activities similar to booking.com, whose activities have been suspended in Turkey. He said they were notifying all the other companies, citing the suspension, as an example. "If travel websites do not act in accordance with the warnings, they will also face legal actions," Gürcün said.