I agree with you Ian that many changes have not benefitted the resort at the moment. If I am honest I did not like the direction the resort was going in. It was becoming too brash, loud and in places a bit cheap and tacky in places.
There were far too many bars and restaurants for the numbers going to resort, something had to give.
Just my opinion, but I believe that they are wishing to move away from a predominantly British resort to a more cosmopolitain upmarket resort. Look at he number of newer more upmarket hotels in resort now compared to say 3 years ago. Rightly or wrongly they are trying to attract, more Turks and other close countries to the resort. Sure they do not spend huge amounts in the resort, the AI will see to that and regretably that will have an impact on businesses in and around the resort. The Brits will still come but not in the numbers that were there 3/5 years ago
This will not suit everyone and as we have seen from comments on here, many are disappointed with the direction the resort is going in.
Icmeler is still popular you just have to log on to Facebook and see the many busy groups on there
As with all things in life nothing stands still, things change, people move on, try new things, new places.
Only time will tell if the mayor was right with his changes