New regulations from the Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications will come in to effect on 1st November 2018.
The new regulations were announced at the start of this year and, over the last few months, both local authorities and tour operators have slowly been implementing the new rules.
The new regulations are part of the “Transportation Electronic Monitoring & Control System”, Ulaştırma Elektronik Takip ve Denetim Sistemi in Turkish, or otherwise known as U-ETDS.
U-ETDS requires all businesses involved in tourism related transport services to provide certain details to the authorities:
- Transport company name
- Car registration number
- Driver details
- Passenger names
- Passenger passport or TC/ Kimlik numbers, as applicable
The regulations so not just apply to airport transfers but to all planned trips and tours. Tour operators must submit the required information at least one hour before the planned journey, so expect them to ask for these details well in advance. Police undertake routine spot checks on Turkish roads and, if tour operators have not provided the correct details to the authorities, they can be penalised. Persistent offenders may have their licence to operate revoked.
All tour operators must be registered with the Ministry of Transport to provide passenger services. They require an A1 certificate to operate cars and a D2 certificate to operate minibuses. They should also be registered with TURSAB.
If you want to check if a tour/travel company is TURSAB registered, please click here.
Friends of Fethiye 