destination reports: turkey: Turkish delights
Turkish delights
Linking Europe with Asia, Turkey offers up a destination combining modern elegance with historical and cultural riches, as Sarah Campbell discovers
For the meeting or event planner, here is a destination with something for everyone. The land where Alexander the Great slashed the Gordion Knot, where Achilles battled the Trojans, and where the Ottoman Empire fought battles that would shape the world, Turkey is brimming with history, tales of derring-do and more Roman ruins than you can shake a stick at.
What’s more, after playing host to the Annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund in October 2009, its credentials for hosting business events certainly stack up. Turkey currently receives more than 24 million tourists a year, with ambitious plans to increase this figure to 40 million by 2020. ‘Congress tourism’ plays a leading role in this future growth.
“Our target is not only mass tourism – at some point you reach the limit of mass tourism. For the last two or three years we have been differentiating our target markets. We have been going after congress and business tourism,” explains Emin Kaya, culture and information attaché, Turkish Consulate General. The Middle East is one market firmly on Turkey’s tourism radar. “Demand from the Middle East is booming. We have had the highest increase in demand from this region, not only from the GCC but from all Arab countries,” says Kaya.
“In 2008, we received a 50 percent increase in tourist from this region, for 2009 we are expecting a 25 percent increase.”
In 2008, Turkey received three million visitors from the Middle East, including 50,000 from the UAE, 50,000 from Kuwait, around 80,000 from Saudi Arabia, 800,000 from Iran and around 600,000 from Syria.
Convention business accounts for just two percent of total tourism receipts in the country, but at US$200 million each year it also represents an important economic sector. Each year, more than 100,000 business travellers descend upon Istanbul alone to visit conventions held in the city.
Turkey is now working to educate the market, with a fam trip programme in place to provide travel agents with a comprehensive view of the country and what it has to offer various niche markets.
“We are trying to educate the trade. Research showed us that the trade did not know about Turkey and its various destinations. How can they sell the destination if they don’t know about it? In 2009, we sent around 1,000 agents to Turkey for fam trips,” explains Kaya.
As part of this educational push, INCON hosted its annual educational forum in Istanbul in early 2009. Almost 200 representatives from the international partnership of congress, meeting and events organisers attended the event, hosted by local PCO Serenas Group.
Serenas also organised the 8th Congress of the European Federation of Internal Medicine in 2009. Held at WOW Hotels and Convention Centre in Istanbul, the congress was attended by 1,500 participants from 48 different countries.
“It is possible to find anything for every taste and every budget in Turkey. Planners should be prepared for a rich variety. However, at the same time they should try to cater to specific requests in order to receive more targeted and tailor-made proposals,” says Mustafa Gurbuz, CEO, Serenas Group. “The most popular meeting destinations are Istanbul, Antalya, Izmir and Ankara. In addition, destinations such as Capadoccia are suitable for smaller meetings or corporate incentive events,” he adds.
When it comes to meeting and incentive business, Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, is the country’s leading destination. Promoting the city’s meeting and incentive facilities and attractions is the main mandate of the Istanbul Convention & Visitors Bureau (ICVB). ICVB was established in 1997 under the umbrella of the Tourism Development & Education Foundation - TUGEV. A non-profit destination marketing organisation, ICVB represents Istanbul around the world. It is also an active member of international meetings industry organisations such as the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA), European Cities Marketing (ECM), the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI), Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA). The city has hosted many important and large-scale international congresses and events, including the 2009 IMF/World Bank meeting for some 20,000 delegates and the 5th World Water Forum for more than 30,000.
“At present, Istanbul hosts between 30 and 35 international congresses a year. However, in 10 years from now, with new investments, correct decisions from the management, centralised marketing strategies, and work on a strong infrastructure and superstructure, Istanbul will be able to host 100 congresses annually each attended by between 20,000 and 25,000 delegates,” forecasts Pervin Zeydanli Yalazan, general manager, UKTA? – management company of Istanbul Lütfi K?rdar Convention and Exhibition Centre.
“To be able to reach this target, work on building the Harbiye Congress Valley was quickly completed in 2009 ahead of the World Bank – International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meeting, which took place there.”
Istanbul was ranked 7th in the world in the 2008 ICCA rankings, with Turkey placed in 18th, both measured according to the number of international meetings held.
“Our aim is to put Istanbul in the top three and Turkey in the top 10 within 10 years and to do this we need to bring into operation new convention and organisation venues in Istanbul and utilise the cultural and historical fabric of the city in order to market the city as a whole,” Yalazan says.
