Your next Turkey holiday could be in a caravan as luxury resorts face strict safety measures

YOUR next family holiday to Turkey might not be in a luxury resort – but instead in a caravan.

A new “Caravan Park” project is being devised in the Black Sea region following the coronavirus outbreak as tourism drops amid the pandemic.

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Turkey has experienced 163,942 cases of coronavirus and 4,540 deaths caused by the virus.

International visitors plunged 51 per cent from January to April, according to the country’s Culture and Tourism Ministry, with just 4.3 million visitors in the four month period compared to 8.7 million the previous year.

The country is now looking at ways to resume tourism with the project’s manager Ali Kaan warning that it had “changed forever” due to coronavirus.

Brits are booking holidays to Turkey already, but for trips abroad in 2021, with holiday resorts across the country potentially requiring guests to prove they don’t have coronavirus with health certificates.

Hotels, airports and attractions will all be sterilised as well as forced to have enough spacing to allow social distancing, while temperature checks are also likely to be introduced at hotels.

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The project hopes to build new caravan parks across 20 decares, with infrastructure including toilet facilities and electrical points.

If successful, it could be rolled out to 34 other provinces in Turkey in the next few years.

Mr Kaan told local media: “There are about six million caravans in Europe. Our country cannot even get one per cent of it.

“We want to realise the project within two years and offer Turkey as a caravan route to European tourists.”

A “caravan hotel” on the Aegean coast has already captured the attention of tourists who want to holiday without the crowds.

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Located in Izmir, the seven-caravan park has seen “demand increase three times more than last year,” according to the owners.

Leyla Özdağ, CEO of Turkey’s caravan tourism federation, added that caravans were popular holiday choices in the Antalya resort in the 1990s, but had since been taken over by hotels – something which could change in the future.

Caravan and camping holidays in the UK are on the rise as a staycation is looking more likely this year.

Brits cannot currently travel to Turkey with the government warning against all non-essential travel.

A 14-day quarantine will also be enforced on Brits returning to the country.

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British tourists are also not expected in Turkey “until autumn” according to local media, due to fears of another outbreak as well as social distancing guidelines being enforced.

Caravan sites in the UK could open by next month with plans to restart the hospitality industry by July 1.

Haven — which runs 38 holiday parks across Britain — is introducing safety measures including timed slots for check-in, one-way paths and food orders via an app.