Emrullah AKÇAKAYA 04.03.2014,ANKARA

Turkey - Highlights

Official Name & Capital:

Republic of Turkey, Ankara

Area: 783,562 sq km(37th in the world), 7.200 km coast line (Aegean, Mediterranean ,Black Sea) Administration structure: 7 regions, 81 provinces

Population: 74 million (17th in the world) Urban population 76.3 %

Age Structure Median Age : 29 Major cities (inhabitants) Istanbul – 13,8 million Ankara – 5 million Izmir – 4,6 million

ABOUT TUROB

“Touristic Hotels & Investments Association”(TUROB) is the first and oldest national trade organization representing the hospitality industry in Turkey. TUROB was established in 1971 with 13 members; today its membership includes over 350 members and allied members comprising mainly hotels representing above 80.000 beds as wells as congress centers, restaurants and night clubs.

TUROB acts as the voice of the hospitality industry

The mission of the Association is to encourage members to provide quality services, high business ethics, standards & practices in the hospitality industry, to forge good relationship between the industry .

The pre-condition to become a member of TUROB for an establishment is being accepted and registered by the Turkish Ministry of Culture & Tourism.

TUROB is run on a not-for-profit organisation.

Market Overview - General

Turkey has a unique geographical location between Europe and Asia and is an important regional power.

Over the past five years Turkey lifted visa requirements for many

neighbouring countries including Russia.

Turkey is a member of the G-20 Club

Turkey has a customs union agreement with the EU and is a candidate country for EU membership since 2004.

Turkey has free trade agreements with EFTA and 11 other countries (Israel, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, Syria, Egypt, Georgia and Albania).

Turkey’s leading sectors are: agriculture, livestock, textiles, food processing,

automotive, machinery, consumer electronics, mining, steel, petrol refining, construction, shipbuilding, lumber, paper, tourism, communication, banking, transport and defence industry.

Emerging sectors are: energy, IT, insurance, retail, healthcare, pharmaceutical industry, defence, aerospace, logistics, security, environmental, industries and consultancy.

Market Overview Tourism and Hospitality

34.9 M tourists visited Turkey in 2013; contributing $32,3 billion to the country’s income.

The number of tourists visiting Turkey grew more than 19-fold in past three decades, from 1.5 M in 1979 to 34.9 M in 2013.

Turkey is the World’s 6th most visited country by international tourist arrivals (UNWTO 2011).

Turkey ranks 9th in the world in convention tourism (ICCA 2011) 7% of the total workforce in Turkey is employed in the tourism sector. The

Government’s goal is to increase that figure from 1.66M to 5M by 2023.

Germany, Russia, UK, Benelux, France, Italy, Greece, US and the Middle East are Turkey’s main source markets.

Market Overview – Tourism and Hospitality

Tourism is among the first three sectors that attract highest level of investments.

Turkish Airlines has been very successful in stimulating and driving demand to Turkey on a global basis.

New Turkish private airlines and charter flights are also expanding fast.

Tourism sector stimulates overall production in the economy by creating demand for over 50 other sectors.

Good balance between price and quality.

High performance of Turkish Tour Operators abroad.

All inclusive system at Turkey’s southern coast is one of the key driver.

International Hotel Chains in Turkey

Hilton Worldwide (Hilton,Conrad, Hilton Garden Inn,Doubletree by Hilton,Hilton

Worldwide Resorts) Kempinski Hyatt Four Seasons Swissotel - Raffels – Fairmont Mövenpick Intercontinental Wyndham Hotels Edition Le Meridien Radisson Marriott ( Ritz Carlton,Renaissance,Edition) Starwood (Sheraton, W Hotels) Shangri -La Accor (Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure,Ibis Hotel) Barcelo

1980 - Tourism Encouragement Framework Decree published.

1982 - Tourism Encouragement Law No.2634 enacted in 1982

1983 - Tourism investment gained momentum in 1980s by land allocations, investment incentives and tax exemptions

1985 - Tourism was declared a “Priority Sector for Development”

2007 – “Tourism Strategy of Turkey for 2023” was issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism with the intention of creating a roadmap for the sector to exceed 50 M foreign tourist arrivals by 2023.

Milestones in Turkish Tourism

Government Incentives for Tourism Investments

)

Tax exemption on imported items VAT exemption on local machinery and equipment VAT on accommodation 8% Tax duties and charges exemption on local purchases Subsidy on employer share for social security / employment tax Interest rate subsidy Land allocation on 49 year lease base (75 years in tourism cities)‏

Electricity and water consumption at the lowest available price (during investment and operation periods)‏

Corporate tax rate (min 4 % - max 20 % according to geographical locations) Income tax rates 15-35 % (reductions applied according to geographical locations)

233 Airplanes

Flying to 96 countries 217 Destinations 39 million passangers

More than 100 million air passengers in Turkey

17 Airplanes

Flying to 13 Destinations

75 Airplanes

Flying to more than 76 Destinations

31 Airplanes

Flying to 95 Destinations

28 Airplanes

Flying to 62 Destinations 7,65 million passangers

DIFFICULTIES AND CHALLENGES

Tourism country plan should be reviewed along with 2023 strategy plan. The plan should be based on a community-oriented and sustainable tourism principle promoting economic development and easy to implement on physical level and the planning approach must contain this principle.

DIFFICULTIES AND CHALLENGES

Investments on infrastructure proceed more slowly when compared to tourism investments. Some problems occur with the planning phase of infrastructure services performed by public administrations such as Transportation, Sewage, Energy, Water, Gas etc.

DIFFICULTIES AND CHALLENGES

Bureaucratic processes related to investments should be minimized. Planning and permission processes at pre-investment period take a long time due to conflicts of authorization and lack of coordination between institutions.

DIFFICULTIES AND CHALLENGES

The differences of regulation and implementation between Ministries must be eliminated and the regulations should be harmonized. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism should be the only authority and the sole address for tourism

investments.

DIFFICULTIES AND CHALLENGES

Relations of corporations operating in tourism industry with one another, governmental institutions and consumers should be redefined.

It is necessary to diversify tourism investments. Investing on “sun-sand-sea” triangle should not be considered as only choice for tourism investment.

DIFFICULTIES AND CHALLENGES

Health tourism based on to ancient Roman times in Turkey. It is essential to complete planning activities for health industry and introduce attractive incentives to investors. It is also important to improve the existing facilities on thermal resources and ensure that the unexploited resources are gained to tourism.

DIFFICULTIES AND CHALLENGES

As for planning tourism investments, economic sustainability, local welfare, employment quality, safety, cultural richness, physical integration, biological diversity, resource efficiency and environmental protection criteria must be taken as basis and the planning process must be flexible, transparent and accountable. It is essential to adopt strategic planning philosophy with participatory and sustainable improvement capabilities in management and implementation phases and the planning process must be functional.

INCENTIVES

The main principle in tourism investments is to focus on increasing incentives and investments that shall render the investment projects practical and sustainable. Tourism incentives must be determined according to Turkish Tourism Strategy – 2023, tourism types, locations and time.

In that regard, to evaluate tourism investments under sub-headings;

• Detailed activities should be performed annually to determine the amount of incentives, applicable conditions, regional attributes, and implementation periods.

• Tourism towns targeting strategic planning should be taken as basis for land allocation matters and the investors should have more desing options.

INCENTIVES

• Long-term loans with low interests should be provided to the industrial actors for renewal of tourism facilities.

• It is necessary to reinforce the “Investment Support Agency” providing a single structure for granting permits to foreigners to acquire property and undertake investment in our country to facilitate investment procedures for foreign capital.

• Companies that shall serve in the industry with respect to investment and consultancy services should be certified by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism so as to accelerate high-quality investments in tourism industry.

• The high SCT (special consumption tax) rate applied to tourism industry should be reduced.

• It is necessary to resolve the legal problems with the implementation of discounts for tourism investments.

Thank you