Turkey and the Euro
We're considering travelling to Turkey next year and while looking at flights and hotels, they always mention the prices in Euros- why should that be?? It's like looking at a Malay Ringgit or Singapore Dollar rate for a Bangkok hotel... Even rates for Switzerland, where I've used euros in many shops without problems (some shops printed a CHF rate and a EUR rate on the bill), I only saw CHF rates mentioned on websites etc.So my question is why are EUR rates printed on the websites (Holiday Inn, Best Western, Turkish Airlines etc)? The Turkish airlines rates from India- Turkey were mentioned in EUR but domestic rates were (obvioulsy understandably) mentioned in Lira.
Thanks for any help!
Ansh
1
This is mainly because the Euro like USD is a 'hard'stable currency(maybe not so stable these days though!).The other reason being that the vast majority of visitors to Turkey are from mainland Europe.But this makes no difference to you as a visitor,you can pay in Euro,USD or Turkish Lira.
Once here you will see prices given in tourist area's in TL,Euro and USD and where there are a lot of British tourists,such as the south coast,also Sterling too.All hard currencies and all accepted.
2
Quite a few hotels, hostels etc. in countries in SE Europe which don't officially use the euro still accept payments in it - in fact some quote the rate in euros only and look surprised that you were expecting to pay in the local currency!4
Many ATMs in Turkey even allow you to withdraw cash in euros or USD.The only place I remember where strictly only TL were accepted was at Aya Sofya in Istanbul, otherwise business owners anywhere were happy to accept both euros and TL. Do check the TL-euro/dollar rate before you hand over your euros/dollars, though.
7
The last thing I heard about that is that the Turkish government have demanded full EU membership, or they won't set up any closer partnership than they have now. Full membership for Turkey still seems to be out of the question for some EU member states.9
Ah,don't get me started on this EU issue!They have been seeking membership for around 40 years now but it still hasn't happened.Frankly,looking at the state of Europe these days I wonder why Turkey still wants to join.If they ever did they would always be regarded by certain country's as the 'embarassing auntie at the wedding',i.e. unwanted.
11
Up until about ten years ago, Turkey had a currency that was wildly inflating. For that reason, people got used to quoting prices and "knowing" prices in several different currencies. The huge majority of people in Istanbul can instantly convert any price at all to US dollars.Foreign currencies are also a very minor form of scamming. The pound is currently worth about 2.8 TL. This means a 3 TL glass of cola in a restaurant should cost about 0.93 GBP. It doesn't, of course - it's rounded up to 1. Of course most brits are happy to pay this - it just feels more convenient.
In Istanbul most tourist places will take USD and euros as easily as TL, but will only occasionally accept pounds. On the south coast it's different - I even saw a place that listed the prices in russian roubles once. Bear in mind that 99% of businesses WILL accept euros or dollars but in some cases it's inconvenient - you should ask if it is OK before you try to use them.
