The leaders of Turkey’s hospitality industry will gather together in Istanbul in June to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing Turkey’s burgeoning tourism and hospitality sector.
For 2014, the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer pinpoints strong growth in tourism expenditure for Turkey as an emerging market (+24 percent), and this leads to steady economic growth, job creation, and a promising environment to roll out wider organizational expansion strategies.
Supported by the Turkish Tourism Investors Association – TYD, the Turkey & Neighbours Hotel Investment Conference (CATHIC) provide a platform for doing business in the region, while also offering insights for hospitality investors on how to capitalize on the strengths of Turkey despite lingering economic and political challenges.
Building upon this CATHIC seeks to examine the government’s role in supporting hospitality investment, financial incentives for sustainable development and design, and strategies for battling seasonality in the resort market. Tourism infrastructure in Turkey and the role of airlift in urban development will also be reviewed by keynotes Murat Ersoy, President of Atlas Jet and Chairman of the TYD; Temel Kotil, President and CEO of Turkish Airlines; and Serdar Bacaksiz, Member of the Board of Directors for Limak Group.
Another key session at CATHIC will be the “Leaders Panel”. Five international operators, will join Ömer Isvan, president of Servotel Corporation to discuss their strategies for growth and development in Turkey. The operators will be represented by Rui M. Barros, SVP & Managing Director Europe, Middle East & Africa – Wyndham Hotel Group; Angela Brav, Chief Executive, Europe – IHG; Jean-Jacques Dessors, Chief Executive Officer Mediterranean, Middle-East and Africa – ACCOR; Wolfgang M. Neumann, President & CEO – The Rezidor Hotel Group and Simon Vincent President EMEA at Hilton Worldwide.
In a recent statement Ömer Isvan said Turkey, which is on average 2.5 hours away from a geography that makes more than 60 percent of the world’s tourism spending today, is an important center of attraction for tourism investments. As the world’s 6th most tourist attracting country around 36.5 to 37 million foreign tourists are expected to visit this year, providing 26.5 to 27 billion dollars income.
Isvan said, “As hotel investments are long-term investments, indeed investors should view Turkey as a country with a structure that can clear the fragile political and economic period and even economic crises up and neutralize their long-term effects relatively well compared to many ‘investment grade’ countries.”
