{"schema_version":1,"citation_url":"https://567politics.com/news/turkey-parliament-foreign-booking-platforms-bill-booking-com-license-17-percent-commission-cap-november-2026","title":"Turkey's parliament takes up bill that could bring Booking.com back under a state license","description":"The bill sets a 5 million lira permit, a 17% cap on domestic commissions and Turkish court jurisdiction. Hotels back it; travel agencies call it a capitulation.","author":"567 Politics staff","publisher":"567politics","date_published":"2026-11-09T20:17:48.523909Z","date_modified":"2026-11-09T20:18:00.891004Z","body_markdown":"Turkey's parliament is set to take up a bill this week that would let foreign online booking platforms such as Booking.com sell hotel stays and plane tickets in Turkey under a state license. NTV reported that the measure could open the way for Booking.com to operate again after an access block that has lasted about nine years.\n\nThe Grand National Assembly's General Assembly opens its weekly session on Tuesday, November 10. It will first continue work on a Turkish Red Crescent bill and then debate the Foreign Digital Accommodation Platforms bill, [Anadolu Agency reported](https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/gundem/tbmmde-turk-kizilay-kanunu-teklifi-ile-yabanci-dijital-konaklama-platformlari-kanunu-teklifi-ele-alinacak/4115724) on Sunday. The measure has split the tourism industry. Hotel groups back it, saying hotels should be free to sell through any channel. Travel agencies call it unequal treatment and want it withdrawn.\n\n## What the bill would do\n\nThe bill, numbered 2/3803, carries the signatures of ruling AK Party MPs Harun Mertoğlu of Rize and Nazım Elmas of Giresun, along with other lawmakers. It was put on the General Assembly agenda as item 293 after the Public Works, Zoning, Transport and Tourism Committee adopted it, the parliamentary news agency [Meclis Haber Ajansı (MEHA) reported](https://meclishaberajansi.com/haber/yabanci-rezervasyon-sitelerine-5-milyon-liralik-izin-sarti-mecliste). The trade outlet [TurizmPolitika](https://www.turizmpolitika.com/haber/platform-teklifinde-komisyon-siniri-paket-tur-istisnasi) said it was submitted on August 10 with 120 signatures and adopted in committee on October 6. The committee set January 1, 2027, as the date it would take effect.\n\nAccording to MEHA, AA and TurizmPolitika, the committee text would:\n\n- Require foreign platforms to get a permit from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism before operating. The permit would cost 5 million lira, rise each year with the official revaluation rate, last two years and could not be transferred. The president could double the fee or cut it by half.\n- Require applicants to be registered for Turkey's digital services tax, have no tax debts and give an address in Turkey for legal notices.\n- Require each platform to name at least one representative in Turkey. A person acting as representative would have to be a Turkish citizen living in Turkey. A company would need at least one authorized officer who is a Turkish citizen living in Turkey.\n- Require platforms to check and display the ministry license numbers of the hotels and holiday rentals they list.\n- Apply Turkish law and give Turkish courts sole jurisdiction over disputes arising from licensed activity.\n- Make platforms pay a tourism levy of 7.5 per 10,000 to the Turkish Tourism Promotion and Development Agency.\n- Let authorities block access to platforms that operate without a permit or whose permit has been canceled or has expired.\n\nThe bill would also limit what platforms can charge hotels. In the original draft, a platform's share of the sale price could not exceed 17% \"under whatever name.\" The committee narrowed that cap to sales made from inside Turkey to Turkish properties. Bookings from abroad would fall outside it. A separate clause would bar platforms from taking commission on taxes such as VAT and the accommodation tax, for both domestic and foreign sales.\n\nPlatforms could not stop hotels from offering the same or different prices on other channels. They could not force hotels into discount campaigns. They also could not lower a hotel's ranking or suspend it without an objective standard in the contract, or because the hotel had complained to a public body or a court.\n\nThe text sets a 500,000-lira administrative fine for platforms that do not use hardware and software set by the ministry. For services that are missing or not delivered, it sets fines of 50,000 to 100,000 lira per contract. If a platform does not comply with court rulings, the ministry could give it 30 days and then cancel its permit.\n\n## How the bill treats package tours\n\nOne of the most disputed clauses deals with package tours. Under current consumer law, a sale that combines at least two services, such as a flight and a hotel, can carry special package-tour protections, including insurance, cancellation and refund rights. The bill says certain combined sales made directly by licensed foreign platforms would not count as package tours.\n\nTurizmPolitika noted that the clause does not ban platforms from selling flights and hotels together. It also does not remove all consumer rights. The dispute is over whether those specific sales lose package-tour protections. An opposition dissent filed by MP Hüseyin Yıldız said general consumer rules do not replace package-tour guarantees. Opposition dissents also said a proposal for compulsory insurance to protect consumers if a platform or supplier goes bankrupt was not accepted.\n\nTurizmPolitika also flagged a drafting gap. When the committee moved the rule against commission on taxes to a new paragraph, the penalty clause was not updated and still points to the old paragraph. One of the opposition dissents noted this.\n\n## The government's case\n\nAt the committee hearing, Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Nadir Alpaslan answered the travel agencies' charge that the bill aims to overturn earlier court rulings. He said the court had ruled as it did because no such law existed, and that its reasoning called for one. He argued that the aim of the new law is not to remove the court ruling but to fill the legal gap the court pointed to, according to the trade paper [Turizm Gazetesi's account](https://www.turizmgazetesi.com/haber/komisyonda-kim-ne-dedi/95052) of the hearing.\n\nAlpaslan said one of the most important results would be that foreign platforms serving consumers in Turkey would be subject to Turkish law, Turkish courts and Turkish regulators. He said that would protect consumer rights more strongly. On criticism that the ministry could expand the law by regulation, he said the power covered only services that complement listed activities, such as a meal ordered through a holiday rental. He said the power was subject to judicial review.\n\nHe also argued against applying the 17% cap to bookings from abroad. He cited platforms' global operations and some hotel chains' international contracts, TurizmPolitika reported.\n\n## Hotels: end \"compulsory intermediation\"\n\nThe Turkish Hoteliers Association (TÜROB) backs the bill. Its president, Müberra Eresin, told the committee that digital booking portals have become an inseparable part of how hotels sell rooms. She said a law was timely and in line with other countries. She said TÜROB valued two provisions most: the ban on commission charged on taxes and the cap on commission rates. These would make hotel costs more predictable and help keep more tourism revenue in Turkey, she said.\n\nMehmet Tanju İşler, a vice president of the Turkish Hoteliers Federation (TÜROFED), framed the issue as one of choice. \"Why can't we market our product freely online? Why do we need a compulsory intermediary?\" he asked, according to Turizm Gazetesi. He said the sector opposes \"not intermediation, but compulsory intermediation.\" He pointed out that Turkish hotels have long worked with foreign brands such as Marriott and Hilton without harm to Turkish tourism.\n\n## Booking.com: supportive, with limits\n\nBooking.com's Turkey regional manager, Bircan Kaan, told the committee that the company supports the bill \"at a high level.\" Kaan said it would make Turkey more predictable and reliable for international platforms, and that Booking.com plans to be among the first to apply for a permit once it passes.\n\nKaan asked for a clearer scope and suggested limiting the law to bookings made in Turkey by Turkish citizens. Otherwise, Kaan argued, limits on bookings brought to Turkey from abroad could hurt Turkey's competitiveness against other countries. TurizmPolitika said the committee's change to the commission cap went in that direction.\n\n## Travel agencies: \"capitulation\"\n\nThe Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB) opposes the bill and has asked for it to be withdrawn. Its chief legal adviser, Ferhat İlker Ünsever, told the committee that the platforms are online travel agencies and should be regulated as such. He said they should set up companies in Turkey, hire staff and fall under Turkish corporate tax, instead of naming a representative.\n\nÜnsever said the package-tour exemption would strip consumers of insurance and refund rights they have when they buy from a Turkish agency. He also objected to letting platforms sell domestic flight tickets and said passenger data could move abroad. He argued that even with the 17% cap, part of the income from tourism inside Turkey would leave the country.\n\nAt an October 12 meeting hosted by TÜRSAB, vice president Davut Günaydın went further. \"For us this is entirely a capitulation. The state will also suffer a very serious tax loss,\" he said, [Cumhuriyet reported](https://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/ekonomi/yabanci-seyahat-platformlari-duzenlemesi-dijital-kapitulasyon-olarak-degerlendiriliyor-acentelere-rekabet-kiskaci-2546103). \"While we pay 25 percent tax, we could not find the purpose of those who sell this from abroad paying 2.5 percent.\" Jolly Tur chairman Mete Vardar said: \"Whatever tax we pay, let the operators abroad pay the same tax. Let them come.\"\n\nTurizmPolitika cautioned that the two tax rates are not directly comparable. Corporate tax is charged on profit, while the digital services tax is charged on revenue. It also said the committee report contained no detailed estimate of how many businesses or jobs would be affected.\n\n## Why it matters\n\nTurkey has been tightening rules on large digital platforms on several fronts. Its competition authority opened a probe into Google's AI search features this month, as [567politics reported](/news/turkey-competition-board-google-ai-overviews-ai-mode-investigation-interim-measures-publishers-november-2026). Tourism is also one of the country's main sources of foreign currency as it fights high inflation, which stood at 29.77% in October by the official count, [as 567politics reported](/news/turkey-october-inflation-29-77-tuik-enag-simsek-november-2026).\n\nParliament is debating the bill while committees work through the 2027 budget, including [ministry spending plans](/news/turkey-labor-budget-isikhan-pension-january-2027-minimum-wage-unemployment-fund-november-2026). The AK Party and its allies hold a majority in the General Assembly; see our [Turkey political spectrum](/political-spectrum?country=turkey) for party positions.\n\nMEHA noted that the final text depends on the General Assembly debate and any amendments. Passage would not by itself end the block on Booking.com. The company would still need to apply for and receive a permit.\n\n## What to watch\n\nThe General Assembly debate begins Tuesday. Points to watch are whether the package-tour exemption survives, whether the penalty clause is fixed, whether consumer insurance is added, and how soon the ministry issues permits after January 1, 2027. For how 567politics reports on bills that have not yet passed, see our [editorial standards](/editorial-standards).","link_base":"https://567politics.com/news/turkey-parliament-foreign-booking-platforms-bill-booking-com-license-17-percent-commission-cap-november-2026","citation_guidance":"Cite citation_url. 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