Public and private sector actors of the Turkish tourism industry emphasize investment opportunities in Turkey's tourism on every occasion, elaborating on the natural beauties of the country and public sector incentives. One of those actors, the Tourism Investors Association of Turkey (TTYD), has a full agenda for MIPIM, the world's top real estate fair which will take place on March 13-16 in Cannes, to narrate the country's tourism environment as well as many a great investment channels on a variety of tourism areas including health care, spa, gastronomy, convention and leisure.

The Turkish tourism industry has seen the mobilization of tourism investments particularly after the Third Tourism Council, which outlined Turkey's tourism agenda for 2023, and which focuses on increasing investments with the cooperation of public and private sectors.

After experiencing a difficult time in 2016 due to terror attacks and political turmoil in ties with some of the countries from which Turkey attracts a high number of tourists, the sector has seen a revival in 2017 and looks forward to the promising 2018 season, which has already registered significant increases in early bookings from Europe.

Speaking with Daily Sabah, TTYD Chairwoman Oya Narin emphasized Istanbul, Antalya, Muğla, İzmir, Aydın and Cappadocia represent the bulk of the existing discoveries most international investors and foreign guests think of. Yet, she added, there are many more treasures to discover in Anatolia, including but not limited to the Black Sea region.

Furthermore, the opportunities are virtually unlimited, given the promises of gastronomy tourism, spa tourism and health care tourism, Narin said.

Within this framework, Narin remarked, Turkey represents the future of tourism in the Mediterranean, calling on investors and institutions intending to invest in this future. "Golfing, convention and entertainment centers, not to mention many destinations opening up to tourism in the Black Sea region and Anatolia, require investments," Narin said. Another major tourism area to invest in is gastronomy, she added.

Referring to the incentives the government provides for tourism investments, Narin said, "Turkey also offers subsidies to the tourism sector through a multitude of channels in line with the ambitious targets of the country," she said and explained, "Tax and social security contribution abatement, allocation of investment sites, customs duty exemptions, value-added tax [VAT] exemptions and reduced interest rates are but a few of these channels."

Narin also said that tourism revenues accounted for 3.1 percent of
gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017. Taking the indirect effects of tourism into account, this figure jumps to around 13 percent. "$26.3 billion in tourism revenues covered
34.2 percent of the foreign trade deficit of the country," she added.

TTYD, Narin added, continues to take part in international investment events alongside members, and to present the opportunities and potential of investments to foreign investors. To that end, TTYD will install a booth at the tourism pavilion of the MIPIM fair to explain the tourism investment opportunities across Turkey.