Speaking at an opening of a 'honey house' founded by the Marmaris Chamber of Commerce, Günay stated, "If we want to ensure we have a dignified, honorable and independent future, we need to continue working, producing and exhausting ourselves." Günay went on to explain that the Turkish Union of Chambers and Exchange Commodities, will be mobilizing all chambers throughout Turkey to continue spearheading new projects geared towards increasing production.
Emphasizing that the way to express love for this nation is to serve it rather than just talk about it, Günay stated, ''With the number of tourists that have come to Turkey, we are now the fourth top tourism country in Europe. I want to thank God and thank all of our tourism friends and everyone who has exerted effort in the sector on behalf of our country. Under these difficult conditions, they have made us the world's sixth and Europe's fourth top nation in tourism."
"WE NEED TO BRING OUR BRAND OUT TO THE WORLD''
Günay says that the way to remain standing in this globalizing world is by doing something well. The Minister of Culture went on to state, "We now need to take further ownership of our nature and present our brand to the world.
Muğla is a very important center in Turkey and the world for honey production. Hopefully, the steps we take today will result in a 'Muğla honey' product that will be in demand all over the world. Sometimes we present wonderful products that suffer due to the packaging. I have seen examples of this outside in the world. In our international relations, sometimes we give and receive presents. Sometimes I see a local product that has extremely special and appealing packaging, which makes me envious. We need to surpass our current packaging, and make our presentation even higher quality," states Günay.
'WE MUST NOT DESTROY OUT BLUE SEAS AND GREEN NATURE'
Minister Günay also mentioned that Turkey's tourism needs to move beyond its coastal towns. "We have wonderful coasts and we need to ensure we protect them, we also have wonderful green villages that we must also ensure retain their characteristics. We need to make sure that we do not destroy nature through greediness and we must conduct tourism based on an environmental understanding.
In addition to presenting our nature, we must also include other aspects in what we offer for tourism. This could include products such as crafts, rugs, carpets and even honey. Our women's handicrafts and cooking are also something," says Günay.
Emphasizing that in Europe there are restaurants that require reservations a year in advance, Minister Günay went on to say: ''I want this to happen in Turkey as well. Turkey needs to make this an objective. I say this with great confidence. When we first got into tourism our competitors were Greece and Egypt. We now host two and a half times the number of tourists that come to Greece and three times the number of tourists that come to Egypt. Our competitors now are Italy, Spain and France. Whatever they have that is nice and good, we should also have the same in our country. That is what we are working towards. We would therefore be able to provide further contribution to Turkey's tourism by being able to present these types of local products in the best way possible."