Underachieving Tourism in Turkey May Affect Property Market

The World Economic Forum has recently been commenting on the state of global travel and tourism economic sectors around the world and on the competitiveness of a given country’s sector in relation to all others - and surprisingly, Turkey fares badly.  Investors need to be aware that underachieving tourism in Turkey may affect the property market in the short to medium term.

However – don’t panic because the key to the issue is this: if Turkey, and in particular the Turkish government and public sector take on board the comprehensive and expansive suggestions, findings, data and statistics in the report, then Turkey will be able to achieve its almost immeasurable potential and this will massively boost and support - in a sustainable way - a very successful property investment market indeed. 

The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2007 highlighted many interesting factors such as that there is a veritable gulf rather than a mere division between government and private sector tourism initiatives.  In fact, thanks to private sector involvement in travel and tourism fairs and the promotion of Turkey externally, the nation achieved a ‘1’ (the top mark) for its proactive attendance at such events…but in direct contrast it scored a miserable ‘110’ (out of 124) for government spending on the travel and tourism sector proving that despite significant government commitment to infrastructure improvement projects along the southern coast for example, they are doing nowhere near enough especially when compared to other nations around the world.

This critical issue of expenditure simply has to be addressed if Turkey is to achieve its potential – the good news is that the fact that there is clear evidence publicly available highlighting the fact the government is not as competitive as others means it’s likely the Turkish government will take heed which bodes well for the investment property market where investors are targeting both commercial and residential real estate for tourism ‘consumption’.

Another issue that is a little more concerning for investors is the perception that tourists have of the welcome they receive in Turkey; according to the World Economic Forum’s findings Turkey achieves a lowly ‘58’ – seemingly those involved in the tourism sector and the Turkish people in general ‘could do better’ in terms of welcoming visitors.  Hopefully this perception will change in time because there is nothing more off putting to a potential visitor than the thought that they will be made unwelcome!

The findings of the report taken in a stand alone setting are pretty damning – but then put them back into context and realise that Turkey is being compared to markets such as France and Spain and that its travel and tourism market is really only in its infancy.  True, Turkey clearly has an incredibly long way to go…but also true is the fact that efforts are being made in the right direction.  At Amberlamb we’d like to remind property investors that buying investment property in Turkey should be viewed as a long term commitment especially in light of the World Economic Forum’s report.  Turkey’s potential for tourism generated income and wealth is huge – but it’s going to take a long time realising it.

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