Tourism kicks off 2008 run with good start in Turkey
Turkey’s tourism industry continued its upward trend after completing a solid tourism year in 2007, recording a 9.6 percent surge in the first month of 2008.

According to “Arriving and Departing Visitors” figures released by the Culture and Tourism Ministry yesterday, 1.4 million people passed through Turkey’s border gates in January, up from 1.37 million in January 2007; 782,786 were arriving foreigners and the remaining 631,578 were returning Turkish citizens. Entries through sea ports increased 13.45 percent, and the number of visitors coming to Turkey by rail rose 4.1 percent while 3.27 percent more visitors preferred to cross the nation’s borders through highways. The number of those who flew into Turkey also increased by 2.3 percent. The largest number of visitors came from Germany as usual with a total of 134,508 people traveling to Turkey. Bulgaria was a surprising second, surpassing the number of Russian tourists. İstanbul was the favorite destination once more, with 45.6 percent of visitors to the country landing in this metropolis.
 
Source:Todayszaman

Foreign interests spend $10 billion in 5 years for real estate purchases  
 
The political and economic stability resulting in foreign interest in the property market boosted the construction of new sites between 2002 and 2007. 
Recent political and economic stability as well as efforts by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to increasingly integrate the Turkish economy into global business have led foreign interests to invest their wealth in Turkey.
 
In the five-year period from 2003 through 2007 the value of real estate purchases by foreign interests was approximately $10 billion, recent Undersecretariat of the Treasury figures have shown.

The surging interest in real estate was accompanied by increasing amounts of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the given period, with capital inflow surpassing $18 billion per year. The amount of money brought in by foreign interests for real estate acquisition was $998 million in 2003 and has increased steadily since then, rising to $1.34 billion in 2004, $1.84 billion in 2005 and $2.9 billion in 2006. The amount increased slightly in 2007, too, by reaching $2.95 billion despite domestic and international economic uncertainty.

The main factors contributing to foreign interest in the Turkish real estate market are relatively low prices, increasing income levels and production, and positive expectations vis-à-vis real estate prices.

According to a report titled “Real Estate Acquisitions of Foreign Real Persons” released by the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre, people from 70 nationalities purchased fixed property such as land and houses. Among them, the citizens of Germany, the US, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and France predominate. They usually prefer İstanbul and Antalya, as half of the money is invested in these two cities. These cities are followed by Bursa, İzmir, Muğla, Hatay, Aydın and Mersin.

FDI and real estate acquisitions did not have a bright outlook in the year preceding AK Party governance, as they primarily stayed below $1 billion. Along with stability, efforts to join the European Union have rendered Turkish markets attractive investment areas. In the five years since 2003 the total amount of FDI has surpassed $46 billion. The annual amount of such capital inflow is expected to increase even further this year and the years to come.

Source:Todayszaman