Giant projects encourage local tourism investments

ISTANBUL

Top real estate and tourism sector figures discuss the issue and trend s in tourism sector during CATHIC.

Turkey’s giant transportation projects and urban renewal plans are giving a further boost to the tourism sector, which is already growing at around 300 percent every year, a sector player said during the Turkey and Neighbors Hotel Investment Conference (CATHIC).

The huge cost and huge effort spent on transportation and infrastructure projects that are occupying Turkey’s agenda were also under the spotlight of tourism and real estate sector players during the two-day conference held in Istanbul.

“As the tourism sector’s development has become the locomotive of the economy, it has also paved the way for an improvement in real estate investments.

Within the framework of giant projects, around a $400 billion investment is now expected in the real estate sector,” the deputy chairman of Turkey’s Association of Real Estate Investment Companies, Özlem Gökçe, said May 29, the first day of the event.

According to Gökçe, tourism sector investments are no longer regarded as a showcase of prestige for investors but are now attracting “serious” investments thanks to developments in recent years.

“The tourism sector is growing 300 percent every year, so we expect to see 60 million tourists in 2013,” she said.

The targets voiced by Başaran Ulusoy, chairman of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), were no less ambitious than Gökçe’s.

“We want to contribute $40 billion to our economy by having 35 million Turks travel within Turkey and abroad,” he said, noting the current momentum was already heading in this direction with the rise in cultural tourism in Turkey that is partly explained by the 26 percent rise in museum entrances.

US business hotel brand

The conference also hosted a significant moment for the Turkish tourism sector as world’s largest hotel chain, Wyndham, and Turkey’s İlbak Holding signed a contract yesterday to officially mark the Super 8 hotel chain’s entry into Turkey. Super 8 hotels will be operated by the Turkish partner of the group, which aims to benefit from a mid-market hotel gap in the country.

“The target is to open 20 hotels in 10 years, starting with opening three or four hotels in Istanbul,” İlbak Holding Chairman Mustafa İlbak said. He did not specify the value of the investment but noted that the cost of one room was around $35,000 and that the planned hotels would have between 80 and 200 rooms each.