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Istanbul, which is among the world’s few destinations with its historical texture and cultural riches, has hosted 7 million foreign visitors in the last 8 months.
According to the statement made by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the number of tourists coming to Istanbul increased in August.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the number of foreign visitors to Istanbul in August 2017 reached to 1 million 247 thousand 384 persons with an increase of 37 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. In the first 8 months of the year, the number of foreign visitors to Istanbul increased by 10.8 percent compared to the same period last year.
Istanbul welcomed 6 million 952 thousand 86 foreign visitors in January-August period. When we look at the distribution of foreigners who came to Istanbul according to the countries, the first 3 did not change again. Germany ranked first with 656 thousand 428 people followed by Saudi Arabia with 526 thousand 84 people and Iran with 413 thousand 273 people.
When the data of the last few years are examined, it is seen that the number of visitors coming from the Arab countries to Istanbul and the distance between the visitors are increasing every year.
In the January-August period of last year, the number of visitors from Arab countries, which is 1 million 303 thousand 631, increased by 36.7 percent in the same period of 2017 reached 1 million 782 thousand 536.
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The number of tourists coming to Turkey from the U.K. is expected to increase by 69 percent next year, the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) said in a report published Wednesday.
According to ABTA, return of U.K. tourists to Turkey will be one of the main travel trends of 2018.
Many holidaymakers chose Turkey as they seek good balance between value and price.
“Turkey is bouncing back after some challenging years, offering great value for money holidays in picturesque resorts,” the report said.
ABTA highlighted Turkey’s rich multi-cultural heritage, beautiful beaches and high quality hotels, adding that “Turkish food is one of the world’s great cuisines.”
An average of 2.5 million British tourists arrive in Turkey annually.
Tourism is the locomotive of Turkey’s economy with a significant share of its gross domestic product (GDP) coming from the sector.
Kaynak: Daily Sabah
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Hot air balloons flying over Cappadocia, Turkey; early bookings to the country are up by 70 per cent
Responsible tourism, a return to Turkey and cruises for millennials with sunrise yoga and vegan menus will be among the biggest travel trends of 2018, according to the industry.
In its annual travel trends report the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) said that despite a weak pound and uncertainty over Brexit more Britons took holidays this year than at any time since 2011. Early bookings suggest that next year we will travel even more often and more adventurously.
Abta predicted that responsible tourism, where tour operators strive not to harm animals, the environment or communities, would be the biggest theme of 2018. Thomas Cook recently stopped offering animal excursions such as elephant rides and swimming with dolphins and Virgin Holidays will no longer promote attractions that feature captive whales and dolphins. Abta expects more operators to implement initiatives such as giving back to communities, banning plastics from beaches and offering carbon-neutral tours.
More than a quarter of Britons plan to visit a country they have never been to before, including Montenegro, Nepal, which is “open for business” after the 2015 earthquake, and Germany, which entered Britons’ top ten destinations for the first time this year.
Early bookings for Turkey rose by 70 per cent and for Egypt by 24 per cent. Tourists have avoided both countries due to political unrest and terrorist concerns but security has improved.
Abta also predicts a rise in the number of cruises, with 14 per cent planning one next year. Cruises are increasingly popular with millennials, the survey also found, citing cruises from U by Uniworld for 21 to 45-year-olds along the most “Instagram and Snapchat-worthy” rivers of Europe, offering sunrise yoga and organic and vegan cuisine.
Kaynak: The Times
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Recently I have come across an article at The Guardian (26.10.2017) regarding the planned ban on the foreign buyers to tackle an on-going housing crisis in the country. New Zealand’s quite young Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has apparently showed her determination to stop the property speculators. In the recent years, New Zealand has become a favourite destination for the Chinese, Australian and Asian buyers as well as the world’s wealthy elite such as Peter Thiel (the co-founder of PayPal and a Facebook board member – he is also a Trump donor), Jack Ma (the man behind Alibaba). According to the article, there is a recorded boom in foreign buyers of land with an almost sixfold increase to 465,863 hectares in 2016 compared to the year before (this is equivalent to 3.2% of farmland in a country of 4.7 million population). This is the point the problems raise: affordability. A report by the Economist earlier this year showed that New Zealand had the most unaffordable house prices in the world with the prices in Auckland climbing 75% in the past four years (the market has recently slowed down though). The cost of owning a home increased by 10.4% in the year to the end of June, compared to a 2.8% increase in the UK. Prices in Wellington, the capital, soared more than 18% in the year to June. On 31st of October, another article has been published in the same line with the list of the world’s least affordable housing markets (Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-31/new-zealand-to-slap-home-buying-ban-on-foreigners-to-ease-market).
The case of New Zealand needs to be examined carefully to understand the actual motives behind the capital appreciation. Is it speculative or is it (f)actual? This case proves that lack of local demand, which is an essential factor for an actual appreciation, will create a ground for a speculative appreciation. In the light of this case if we look into the situation in Istanbul/Turkey market, we will have an opposite case. Housing Index in Turkey increased to 246.10 Index points in September from 244.50 Index points in August of 2017. Housing Index in Turkey averaged 169.19 Index points from 2002 until 2017.
Now let me give the latest statistics published from the Turkish Statistical Institute: In Turkey, house sales increased by 28.8% in September 2017 compared to the same month of the previous year and hence, became 140,298. For the house sales of September 2017, İstanbul had the highest share of house sales with 16.7% and 23,471 sold house. The followers of İstanbul were Ankara with 13,945 house sales and 9.9% and İzmir 7,575 house sales and 5.4%.
Source: http://www.turkstat.gov.tr/PreHaberBultenleri.do?id=24801
Here is the point: In house sales to foreigners became 2,236 by increasing 75.2% compared to the same month of the previous year. İstanbul was the first province with 797 sales in September 2017. This means out of 23,741 sold house only 797 have been bought by the foreign buyers and most importantly the prices have been dominated by the local drive and demand. I believe that this is the concrete and solid ground for the continuous capital appreciation.
Evren Erem, VIP Property
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The number of international tourist arrivals rose by 6 percent last year to 1.4 billion, according to an estimate published Monday by the World Tourism Organization.
The increase was driven by travel to southern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the Madrid-based U.N. body, citing economic growth and technological advances as boosting factors.
Although arrivals to the Americas grew only by a modest 3 percent — four for North America — Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific performed strongly, with respective rises of six, seven and 6 percent.
WTO secretary-general, Zurab Pololikashvili, welcomed the strong results as showing that tourism is “one of the most powerful growth motors” for international development.
Total arrivals to Europe were 713 million but the WTO noted that arrivals in northern Europe were flat last year, citing uncertainty over Britain’s impending exit from the European Union.
A closer focus on data for Africa, which welcomed 67 million visitors in total, saw the north of the continent register 10 percent growth in arrivals staying at least overnight. Sub-Saharan arrivals were up 6 percent.
Middle Eastern arrivals rose 10 percent to 64 million.
The body said overall solid economic growth, more broadly accessible air travel on lower fuel prices and more efficient processing of visas had all contributed to the rise.
The WTO notably cited better air connections in two substantial developing markets, India and Russia.
At the same time, it noted some investors, as well as travelers, were adopting a “wait and see” attitude in considering geopolitical uncertainty stemming from issues such as the U.S. trade war with China as well as the fallout from Brexit.
The WTO predicted a global overall increase of between three and 4 percent for the current year, broadly in line with historical trends.
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Turkey’s Safranbolu, an Ottoman-era district located in the northern Anatolian province of Karabük, attracted 1,263,000 domestic and international visitors last year, breaking its own tourism record.
The district – an open air museum with its hundreds of years old structures such as wooden houses, bathhouses, Ottoman-style mansions, fountains, mosques and bridges that have remained from Ottoman times – reflects the city life in the times of the empire with its almost untouched architecture.
After it was included in UNESCO’s world heritage list in 1994, the district municipality has restored different sites for its visitors, with the aim of making the district an “outdoor museum” and “self-protected city” while attracting more and more visitors each year. The municipality seems to have realized this goal this year, by recording a 67 percent increase in the number of tourists from abroad with 97,258 visitors in 2018.
District Governor Fatih Ürkmezer told Anadolu Agency that the tourism momentum is increasing every day.
Underscoring that spring and summer are the top tourism seasons in the district, Ürkmezer said that fall was also an important time for the district since it is harvesting time for saffron, a flower that grows only in the region and hence gave its name to the district.
“Photo enthusiasts want to see this harvest. Just for this alone, our local and foreign guests come to Turkey from around the world,” Ürkmezer said.
While the number of visitors coming from China and Taiwan were leading the way last year, there were also plenty of tourists from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Germany, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand.
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Kaş district in Turkey’s southern Antalya province (Sabah File Photo)
Turkey’s first Halal Tourism Workshop will take place in February to analyze the country’s current state in terms of halal tourism opportunities and create a “common global language” regarding the halal tourism sector.
Organized by Süleyman Demirel University’s Halal Tourism Administration-Research Center, the workshop will take place on Feb. 22-24.
Speaking to Ihlas News Agency, Associate Professor Ömer Akgün Tekin said they expect participation by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), International Halal Tourism Organization, and others.
The workshop will analyze the opportunities for halal tourism in Turkey, as well as the country’s strength and weaknesses.
Tekin noted that they believe Turkey needs to publish a Halal Tourism Regulation as soon as possible and create a Halal Tourism Strategy Certificate to fill the void in terms of having a global language for halal tourism.
“We have full faith that Turkey has the potential to create such language,” Tekin added.
Professor Tekin noted that they plan to publish a “Halal Tourism Guide” in Turkey. He continued by saying that there are around 400 million Muslims living near Turkey and that at least 90 percent of these people travel with a set of values based on their beliefs, such as having halal-certified food, no alcohol in the hotels stay at.
“Turkey should become the main destination for halal tourism and needs to identify new markets to attract more visitors,” Tekin said.
Turkey’s natural and historic attractions have long been a magnetic force drawing tourists from around the world and in recent years, varied tourism options have attracted tourists from Muslim and Arabic-speaking countries.
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As the Turkish aviation industry officially began its countdown to move to the country’s new international and transit hub, many people are in line to bid farewell to the old airport that served Istanbulites and many others throughout the world for decades.
Passengers who want to go down in history as the last ones to fly from Istanbul’s Atatürk International Airport have been rushing to grab a spot on the final scheduled flight, and this high demand has driven ticket prices up considerably.
The last-ever flight operated by Turkey’s national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) from the airport located in Istanbul’s Bakırköy district will depart at 2:00 a.m. on March 6 for Singapore and the airport will terminate its commercial passenger operations, which will then continue at the enormous Istanbul Airport starting from 2:00 p.m.
350 lucky passengers will get to ride on a Boeing 777 for a 10-hour journey to Singapore’s Changi Airport in economy and business class, but it seems that they might have to cash out a bit more than usual to be a part of this historic farewell flight.
Currently, the prices for an economy class seat have reached TL 4,876 ($845), up from an average of TL 3,400 ($590), while a passenger wishing to fly business will face prices of up to TL 17,000 ($2,950) from about TL 12,000 ($2,081). The ticket prices are expected to increase as the flight nears.THY, boasting a fleet of more than 300 aircraft, will transfer from its old base, Atatürk International Airport, to its new home, the enormous Istanbul Airport, starting at 3 a.m. on Friday, April 5 in what is dubbed as the biggest logistical operation in aviation history.
The process of moving to the new airport actually began with the opening of the airport in October last year, with the final stage expected to take a continuous 45 hours and be completed just before midnight on April 6. For the “Big Migration” to be completed and processed as planned, both the outgoing Atatürk Airport and incoming Istanbul Airport will be closed to all passenger flights between 2 a.m. and 2 p.m. that day.
Demand for the first flight after the “Big Migration”, which will be to capital Ankara’s Esenboğa Airport, also remains high.
The Istanbul Airport will be closed to commercial flights for 35 hours between 3 a.m. on April 5 and 2 p.m. on April 6. Between 2 and 7 p.m. the airport will be open to Turkish Airlines’ scheduled flights, and from 7 until midnight it will only be open to the passenger flights of carriers that are based at Istanbul Airport, namely the THY, AtlasGlobal and OnurAir. Starting at midnight on April 7, the new transport hub will be officially open to all domestic and international flights.
Atatürk Airport was initially established as a military airfield during final years of the Ottoman Empire in 1912, and started serving as an airport in 1953. Initially known as the Yeşilköy Airport after the neighborhood where it is located in, it was renamed after the republic’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1985.
Following the migration, Atatürk Airport will continue to serve for cargo operations and for Turkish and foreign officials. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said last year that the airport will be turned into a huge public park, but the details of the project and whether the airfield will fully cease to exist are not concrete yet.
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Turkey attracted nearly 1 million people for health tourism in 2018, said an industry official on Tuesday.
“Thermal tourism contributes to Turkey’s economy with healing waters, as well as seas, rivers and lakes,” Yavuz Yılık, head of the Thermal Health and Tourism Association (TESTUD), told Anadolu Agency.
Yılık stressed that Turkey is one of the world’s top seven countries for thermal springs, with about 1,500 natural hot spring water resources.
“Protecting our health-giving healing waters, using them properly, and passing them down to future generations with the same qualities is also important for the country’s future,” he added.
Besides being an indispensable holiday destination for tourists, especially those from Asia, Europe and the Middle East, Turkey has also seen considerable growth in health care tourism in recent years. The number of health tourists has increased tenfold in the past decade, with 75,000 visitors coming for health reasons in 2008. In 2017, that number rose to 700,000 medical tourists, according to the Istanbul International Health Tourism Association (ISTUSAD).
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca recently said Turkey’s revenue in health tourism has reached $1.5 billion, and that they aim to increase this revenue five times by 2030. Receiving qualified service with low prices caused many patients from the world to flock to Turkey, he said.
Health tourism encompasses a wide range of treatments, from medical tourism (such as treatment and surgery in hospitals), thermal tourism (services such as rehabilitation and rest in thermal facilities), elderly and disabled tourism (long-term stays with social activities in geriatric treatment centers).
While Turkey has developed its investment portfolio within the framework of these categories, the interest of tourists who seek treatment in areas such as oncology, orthopedics and aesthetics in the past few years has been reflected in official figures.
Health tourists choose Turkey for a variety of reasons, including price, quality, technical conditions, short waiting periods and high-end facilities. Turkey holds a prominent place in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, organ transplantation as well as dental care and plastic surgery.
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With big companies turning their routes to Turkey again, Ege Port in the Kuşadası region of the Aegean province of Aydın, where the highest number of cruise ships anchor annually, is expected to host 195 cruise ships this year with 170,000 tourists.
Ege Port General Manager Aziz Güngör said bookings for 2020 in cruise tourism are going well, adding that it is pleasing for the industry to see that big companies have directed their routes to Turkey again.
Güngör’s remarks came after the second cruise ship of the season, the Maltese-flagged Celestyal Olympia cruiser dropped anchor at Ege Port in Kuşadası with 1,540 passengers on Saturday.
In mid-February, Black Watch, which operates under a Bahamas flag, departed from the U.K.’s Southampton port carrying 550 passengers and docked at Kuşadası.
Some of the tourists on Celestyal Olympia, consisting mostly of American tourists, used the opportunity and visited archaeological sites such as the historic sites of Ephesus and the House of Virgin Mary, while others preferred to shop in the downtown area of the city.
Güngör said that Celestyal Olympia would cruise 60 times and carry approximately 87,000 tourists to the province during the season. According to Güngör, 58.7 percent of cruise ships coming to Turkey last year anchored in Kuşadası.
He noted that 145 out of a total of 247 cruise ships coming to Turkey berthed at Ege Port in Kuşadası in the January-October 2018 period, adding: “We expect that more than 170,000 tourists will come to the province with 195 cruise ships in 2019. In addition, it is expected that 70,000 passengers will come with 477 ferry cruises from Greece’s Samos Island.”
Kuşadası is a famous holiday resort town and is situated conveniently close to major archaeological sites and the Dilek Peninsula National Park, one of Turkey’s most biologically diverse areas. Kuşadası is also home to some of the region’s most pristine beaches. In 2017, Kuşadası Ege Port welcomed 126 ships and 118,418 cruise passengers.
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