European pensioners invited to spend golden years in Turkey
The Turkish government is taking an important step to attract a million out of 125 million senior European tourists that are looking for a hot and peaceful country. Ankara is preparing to grant permanent residency to elderly Europeans and aiming for an annual income of $25 billion.
According to information obtained by Daily Sabah's sister newspaper Sabah, which gained accessed to a recent statement by the Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu who said that Turkey aims for $50 billion in income in health tourism in the next five-to-six years, the European Union Ministry, which is to be merged with Foreign Ministry in the new presidential governance system, will follow an active policy in terms of increasing tourism income.
The first step of the ministry will be to facilitate visa procedures, one of the biggest obstacles in this regard. In this context, a law study similar to reciprocity will be made for European tourists.
Advanced active living tourists aged over 55 residing in European and Scandinavian countries will be granted a residence permit for 12 months. Elder tourists who choose Spain, Italy, Philippines, Dubai and Morocco and whose number reach around 15 million are also one of the targets.
With this study, which aims to attract a million people, $25 billion is expected to be made in five years.
The ministry, which aims to obtain $20 billion from medical tourism, will overcome the problems experienced in this field during visa process with a S1 electronic health visa.
Emin Çakmak, the founding chairman of the Turkey Medical Tourism Development Council, said that tourists aged over 55 spend an average of 4,000 euros a month.
"These people spend five-six months of the year in hot countries. This corresponds to an average 25,000 euros per person. If we can attract one million of them, we can obtain $25 billion," Çakmak said.
Explaining that obtaining visas was one of the biggest obstacles, he said, "We don't ask for visas from European tourists, but they can stay a maximum of one month in Turkey. After that, they have to obtain a residence permit from the Immigration Administration. This requires a serious bureaucratic process. Europeans do not want to deal with this process."
He said the issue was conveyed to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, adding that the minister confirmed that visa study for the Scandinavian countries was initiated.
This project would fill vacant hotels and spread the tourism season throughout the year, Çakmak said.
"We sent them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Konya and the minister said that they started the visa work for the Scandinavian countries and they could add the EU countries as well," he said.
He also noted that the remaining $20 billion out of the targeted $50 billion could be achieved from medical tourism, adding that tourism from 186 countries come to Turkey to receive services in this field.
"Out of $7.5 billion of health tourism revenue obtained last year, $6 billion came from medical tourism. $5 billion from this figure comes from Iraq and Libya, to whom we provide S1 electronic health visa. We can increase this figure to $20 billion in five years if a S1 visa is given to other countries as well. We have enough equipment and infrastructure in this field. City hospitals will also make serious contributions to this," Çakmak noted.
According to information obtained by Daily Sabah's sister newspaper Sabah, which gained accessed to a recent statement by the Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu who said that Turkey aims for $50 billion in income in health tourism in the next five-to-six years, the European Union Ministry, which is to be merged with Foreign Ministry in the new presidential governance system, will follow an active policy in terms of increasing tourism income.
The first step of the ministry will be to facilitate visa procedures, one of the biggest obstacles in this regard. In this context, a law study similar to reciprocity will be made for European tourists.
Advanced active living tourists aged over 55 residing in European and Scandinavian countries will be granted a residence permit for 12 months. Elder tourists who choose Spain, Italy, Philippines, Dubai and Morocco and whose number reach around 15 million are also one of the targets.
With this study, which aims to attract a million people, $25 billion is expected to be made in five years.
The ministry, which aims to obtain $20 billion from medical tourism, will overcome the problems experienced in this field during visa process with a S1 electronic health visa.
Emin Çakmak, the founding chairman of the Turkey Medical Tourism Development Council, said that tourists aged over 55 spend an average of 4,000 euros a month.
"These people spend five-six months of the year in hot countries. This corresponds to an average 25,000 euros per person. If we can attract one million of them, we can obtain $25 billion," Çakmak said.
Explaining that obtaining visas was one of the biggest obstacles, he said, "We don't ask for visas from European tourists, but they can stay a maximum of one month in Turkey. After that, they have to obtain a residence permit from the Immigration Administration. This requires a serious bureaucratic process. Europeans do not want to deal with this process."
He said the issue was conveyed to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, adding that the minister confirmed that visa study for the Scandinavian countries was initiated.
This project would fill vacant hotels and spread the tourism season throughout the year, Çakmak said.
"We sent them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Konya and the minister said that they started the visa work for the Scandinavian countries and they could add the EU countries as well," he said.
He also noted that the remaining $20 billion out of the targeted $50 billion could be achieved from medical tourism, adding that tourism from 186 countries come to Turkey to receive services in this field.
"Out of $7.5 billion of health tourism revenue obtained last year, $6 billion came from medical tourism. $5 billion from this figure comes from Iraq and Libya, to whom we provide S1 electronic health visa. We can increase this figure to $20 billion in five years if a S1 visa is given to other countries as well. We have enough equipment and infrastructure in this field. City hospitals will also make serious contributions to this," Çakmak noted.