I first went to Turkey in 1970. The biggest difference is that the turkish delight came in nice wooden boxes!

We went to Ephesus and there were none of the shops and stalls there like there are now. Just one man with a trestle table in the car park!

Those were the days.

Why oh why do People think that Turkish Busineses should not increase it's prices to whatever they charge is beyond my thinking, They sell the product, Holidaymakers buy the product, If you dont like the price stay away and go elsewhere, But your certainly not going to get a friendlier Holiday anywhere else as you do in Turkey, Point taken people?.

I have only been going for the last 5 years and love it.When I tell some people,some say Oh we went years ago,we had all these notes and we couldnt spend it!!!.

Of course prices will go up over the years, but I think what people are referring to is how quickly they have risen in just the last few years. Part of the problem is that Turkey was once a very inexpensive holiday destination, whereas now the prices are comparable to most of the other Mediterranean countries.

It's also unfortunate that a lot of people sense a feeling of being being 'ripped off' out there; indeed, many of the establishments out there do not need to charge such inflated prices (the average Turkish waiter will not have seen his wage soar in the same way prices have!)

Like many holiday destinations; once they become popular they seem to lose the very thing that made them popular in the first place. And you'll always get unscrupulous business people jumping on the bandwagon, and pushing up prices so as to make a quick killing. Shame.

Strawberry

I realy feel that you cannot 100% blame the owners of some of these places. Now of course there are most likely the few that yes will take advantage of this but most of the problems I feel is with the decrease in value to the £ or € over this past year. So how can you blame them.

At one time the £ was almost valued at 3 liras to 1 £ and then the Euro was almost 2 liras to one €. So you were getting more value for your foreign currency but now look at today's values.... the price has to go up or they will be losing money.

let's use an example;

For something you payed 15 liras for 1 or two years ago was worth at that time in GBP was 5 £....

now 15 liras will cost you about 6.50£....

Also every year....the cost of living rises in Turkey from more and more new taxes, electrical costs, food cost, gas prices, etc.etc...this also has to factor in the costs. Also I would imagine that the waiters wages would go up a bit every year...but most of them also work on commission so they are also more pushy to try and sell you more.

The exchange rate shouldn't make any difference to how many Lira they charge for something.

If something costs 20 Lira, it doesn't cost 25 Lira the next day just because you're getting more Lira to your Pound. Or it shouldn't anyway.

Try telling that to a village woman when she goes to buy her groceries!

Strawberry

Strawberry...you are right..my reference was over a period of 1 or 2 years and not just the next day.

However if I am correct many places along the Aegean coastline are priced in £'s for restaurants etc....Med. in Euros...therefore over a year's time with the variable exchange rates it could be a reason for the raise in prices.

but again you are right it shouldn't....but I also think over the years the quaility of hotels and restaurants have also increased...Another example of this was many years ago in Turkey most hotels did not have A/C...now most do.

Except I can not understand why some places along the Aegean coast seem to charge extra for this service. The same goes for mini-bar useage and safes....it should be included in the cost of the hotel's price.

As hotel owners increase the quaility of their hotel the price should reflect this....but I cannot speak for the multitude of mass tousim areas and to answer the original question...yes Turkey has changes over the years !!!

Unfortunately mass tourism has changed the faces of so many beautiful places along the coastal areas with the build up of so many resorts. but there are still a few unspoilt by this...

I would imagine what happened when the hard lira come in, the shop, bar and restaurant owners sneaked in some price increases with change in the value of the currency.

This is what happened with the euro, price increases, and hoteliers through out europe used the euro as a way to rasise prices.

The £1 to lira rate is down to 2.35 lira's now. The price increase hit even harder when the value £1 starts to drop against the currency of the country you are visiting.

I don't think anybody would expect to pay the prices of 20 years ago.

No one would expect to pay the same as they did 20 years ago, of course not, but in real terms, Turkey is far more expensive than it was then - for the tourist anyway.

And if traders wish to sell their goods in Sterling - then when the exchange rate goes down, i.e. £1 buys only 2.45 Lira instead of 2.60 Lira for example, then the cost should be cheaper as you're getting more Sterling for your Lira.

At the end of the day, Turkey is not an expensive place to holiday in, but is certainly not the incredibly cheap place it once was. And that's taking into account the passage of time, inflation, and exchange rates. In real terms, if it were still cheap, prices would be much lower than they are now.

Strawberry

Just back from 2 week marmaris holiday,went end of season for shopping, and was amazed how expensive turkey is now, we spent over £2000 all food and drink prices are same or dearer than uk

Went to a few bars buy a cocktail get 1 free, only to discover they were selling them in smaller tumblers so you were NOT getting 1 free, 99% of the restuarants were over charging on your bills

Also found some shop keepers were very aggresive, this is my 6th vist in 2 years but will not be back

If this was end of season would not like to book for high season

Hi Dundee-Scotland,

There's been lots of reports about the aggressive attitude out there, amongst shopkeepers and bar owners etc: people even being physically assaulted (slapped etc) if they've refused to buy something.

It seems to be getting worse and worse by the day!

Strawberry

Even the breakfasts advertised at 99p each which on my vist should have been 2.4 lira each at exhange rate ,when bill arrived we were getting charged near 5 lira each

If we complined we were called gypsies, this is not the Turkey we visted before, they have to realize Brits are not super rich we work very hard all year to go on holiday, and we want value and a fair price, on our holidays

rip of britain has now reached to rip off turkey

Even in the airport thier are cartels, every place is exact same price we bought a tin of ice tea it was £3, if they go into the E.U., they will learn this practise is illegal

The airport air conditioning seemed to be off or very low, to get tourists to spend at the airport, it has given me an expieriance I wont forget, we are already booked for next year but we are prepared to loose our deposit than go through all this again

Would advise very strongly to anyone going 2008, try and get the best all inclusive hotel you can afford, and book that, in the long term you will save the hassle and have more money in your pocket,and have the holiday you wanted

Just as an example I bought my sons girlfriend a chloe handbag . most places wanted £50-60 for this handbag that probably a couple of years ago would of been £20 . After going to every shop i found someone that would sell me one £35. I was happy to spend £35 for a resonably decent handbag but 6 weeks later it is falling apart . thats the difference a few years ago we were willing to part with our hard earned cash as it was cheap and part of the fun was that it always fell apart. it didnt matter . but now it does matter because it isnt cheap anymore

I bought my daughter a fake Chloe bag about 18 months ago in Fetiyhe. I paid £65, but unlike your £35 one its still going strong, its beautiful leather.
I would rather spend a bit more & get something which lasts. Yes, mine was only a copy, but it was still a good quality bag, made with good quality leather & worth the £65.
I think you would find had you examined those bags a bit harder you would have found they are not all the same, there is a reason why the prices are different.

I never went to Turkey years ago, so I never had the very cheap experience

My husband & I hardly drink, so we are not that concerned with the drink prices. But I think the food prices are very reasonable.

We always go AI, but still dine out sometimes. We generally pick really swanky places & get 2 starters & 2 mains for £30-£40, now in the more expensive places I think thats very good. Places like the gone but not forgotton White Dolphin

We stayed in the Agean Dream Resort Hotel in May, it was about £1100 (if I remember ), now a comparable hotel in Greece would have cost A LOT more.

We have booked the Reef Oasis Blue Bay in Sharm for June 22nd next year. Our price was £1850 because we booked the Louis Tiran Sharm which won't be open & they moved us. If we were to book the Reef Oasis Blue Bay now (the price has risen since booking) it would be about £2000 or a bit more.
Makes Turkey look a bit cheaper, huh?

You are right kim about the varying qualities .I was aware of that at the time . the much better quality ones were a lot dearer .my sons girlfriend didnt want a top notch quality one just something she could use for school until she got bored with it. the point i was trying to make was that for £35 you are now getting a piece of right . Only a couple of years ago you could of got that really good quality one you purchased for less than i paid for the C R A P one. So for £35 you may as well keep your money in your pocket and buy a decent one at home but I saw soooooo many teenage girls this year with money in their pocket that were willing to pay big money on rubbish without even trying to get the price down so its no surprise that shopkeepers now think we are all stupid.
Its probably better to now get recommendations of shops that sell decent quality before we go . At least then we will know what we are paying for because for some reason many of us leave our brains at home when we go on holiday.Another thing thats starting to rattle me and this isnt just turkey i might add is when you do a bit of paragliding etc and they take photos and now DVD,s .they charge stupid money for them . I paid £60 for a load of exactly the same photos burnt onto a 10p disk and a cheap DVD disk of our 2 family members paragliding this year . One of them doesnt even work and the other has never been watched. they can see me coming. these companies are really homing into our spending stupidity when we are on holiday. Im definately taking my brain with me on holiday next year
lyn

Hi Lyn ,

They must love you paying all that money for a 10p disk.
Just can't see how 65 quid is a good price for a Chloe rip off even a good one as you can get them here for that price and if anything goes wrong you can take it back without getting on a plane. It's such a shame as my daughter really enjoyed the experience of Fethyie market last year as she had never experienced anything quite like it, but I really don't want to take her there next year. Been there done that got the T Shirt. (well 4 for ten quid actually, that have fallen apart LOL)

Shame for your sons girlfriend though Lyn as when they are that young their hopes are high.

I did actually see some proper shops (boutique style) in Fethyie but I can't remember exactly where they were but the prices seemed very similar to at home.

They must love you paying all that money for a 10p disk.
Just can't see how 65 quid is a good price for a Chloe rip off even a good one as you can get them here for that price and if anything goes wrong you can take it back without getting on a plane. It's such a shame as my daughter really enjoyed the experience of Fethyie market last year as she had never experienced anything quite like it, but I really don't want to take her there next year. Been there done that got the T Shirt. (well 4 for ten quid actually, that have fallen apart LOL)

£65 is not bad for a quality leather handbag. The fact that its a great Chloe copy, also made my daughter really pleased with it.

I've just spent nearly £300 on a Mulberry bag over here & that was heavily discounted at a designer outlet store.

You wouldn't get a decent leather bag for much less than £65 anywhere.

Mind you M&S have some really nice ones for £80.

Thats it . Its all about the fact that its a good chloe copy .I know it means a lot to teenage girls but its not important to me. Im quite happy with one from next or m+s plus I always get at least 2 every christmas.no way I would pay £300 for a handbag, unless of course someone would like to purchase one as a gift for me then I would gratefully accept.

We enjoyed the market the very first time we went but have never had any desire to repeat the experience. As you say chris "been there , done that "so we just have a little wander in resort and buy something if it takes our fancy. shopping is never fun for me with Hubby and 3 boys in tow .but it made a pleasant change having some female company this year but there is only so much your willing to pay on someone elses child or my own for that matter. Im just tight. Spend too much on holidays to ever have anything left for those little pleasures in life.

lyn