21 Million Visitors to Turkey in 2007

Turkey is expected to open its doors to 21 million visitors in 2007, raising 20 billion dollars in revenue for the countries tourism sector. The Turkish Tourism Investors Association has confirmed that despite the recent bombing campaigns and the outbreak of bird flu in the south, tourist numbers are not seeing a significant drop and the record highs of 2005 are set to remain throughout 2007.

Turkey has long been seen as a Middle Eastern country as instead of the exotic Mediterranean holiday resort that it is becoming. The country is heavily reliant on tourism to ensure its economy remains stable and this has meant that the Turkish government will need to invest heavily in promotional campaigns to boost the countries reputation amongst its overseas visitors.

Meanwhile the coastline has been flooded with hotel resorts, which has meant that there is increasing overcapacity and this has pushed prices down to ridiculously low room rates. The tourism Ministry is committed to improving this situation, and with the ever increasing numbers of visitors choosing to self cater and avoid the package type deals, new apartment developments are being offered for sale to the overseas investors.

This type of accommodation is become more and more popular with the UK investors and with 50 % of UK property owners now looking to invest in property abroad, Turkey is set to be one of favourites.

With the increasing number of championship golf courses being built and backed by top names such as Nick Faldo and Colin Montgomerie, Turkey its showing its diversity as a holiday resort with much to offer. That coupled with the soaring temperatures we are expecting to see in 2007, will keep the tourists flooding in and the accommodation filled. There is much opportunity to invest here with the rules changing on public land allocation meaning that developers will be able to purchase land for resort style accommodation rather than single plots.