Turkey is the ideal family holiday location. It offers a reliable climate, beach resorts, excellent quality Turkish property, water sports, land based activities and all at a lower cost compared to Western Europe.  Figures report a 12 percent rise in overseas visitors. A further 20 percent increase in the number of British tourists is anticipated in 2009, according to an undersecretary of the Tourism Ministry.

Recognizing the importance of tourism to the burgeoning Turkish economy, the Culture and Tourism Ministry has announced longer-term strategies and ambitious aims for 2023.

One of the key appeals of a holiday in Turkey is affordability. The country is not part of the eurozone and hence relatively unaffected by the pound’s poor performance against the euro. The Turkish Lira has reportedly fallen one-third against the dollar and one-fifth against the pound.

And access to tourism hot spots such as Antalya on the Mediterranean coast or the Bodrum Peninsula on the Aegean coast has never been easier with direct flights offered daily from the United Kingdom by both scheduled and charter services.

These positive tourism indicators for 2009 also spell good news for those with second properties in Turkey. Some 73,000 foreign nationals – mainly Britons, Germans and Greeks – own properties in the country, predominantly along the Mediterranean and Aegean coastlines, and interest in property purchases, be it for retirement, a holiday home or a buy-to-let investment, continues to be strong.

Turkey Property is available at a low cost within areas such as Altinkum, the Benidorm of the Aegean coast, where you can still buy a new flat for as little as £25,000, although strong domestic demand has meant the country has avoided a Spanish-style collapse. Slowly but surely, however, high-quality properties with real architectural appeal are cropping up along the coastlines, particularly the southwest stretch from Bodrum to Kas, where most of the 21,000 British property owners in Turkey have bought.

Turkey is definitely moving upmarket, with desirable areas such as Bodrum or Gocek offering the quality of upper western standards, and Bodrum also benefiting from a stunningly beautiful coast-line.

Bodrum has direct EasyJet flights from the UK (although not in winter, when you must fly via Istanbul) and if you are looking for an investment property, follow the locals who buy in Bodrum. What this means is that the market there doesn’t see bubbles, as it is not inflated by purely international clients. EasyJet is now bringing more people to Bodrum and putting it on the map, but there are also four national airlines that fly there from the main Turkish cities, so Bodrum town has year-round life.

This event was hosted by the German tourism industry and co-hosted by the Turkish tourism ministry. Besides his commitment, Turkey’s Counsellor provided ITB with his ideas, opinions and hard work in promoting Turkey.

This award highlighted the importance and popularity of Turkey property and Turkish tourism industry in Europe as well as around the world. The ITB Berlin is also being attended by the Turkish Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

The report claimed that people from the Russian Federation and Northern Cyprus used this tax free system most frequently. Compared to 2008, the percentage of purchases made this year increased across all tourist nationalities, with tourists from Iran, Kuwait and Kazakhstan coming out top.

Turkey has over 6,000 Turkish shopping outlets which currently offer the Global Refund Tax Service. This service is an integral part of Turkish tourism and their strategy to attract nationalities to their country and sample not only the local delicacies but also view the Turkey property on offer.

Many countries worldwide are participating in this fair, with the Turkish tourism ministry being one of ITB’s co-host. Dubai tourism department, DTCM, has also shown their interest in the exhibition by organising and sending a group of senior delegation to promote the ever popular Dubai Shopping Festival in the ITB. It is encouraging to see countries such as Turkey and Dubai invest in their tourism sector and how such investment ambitions are unhindered by the current global economic climate.

Dubai has already announced plans to invest AED 50 million into the Emirate’s “Keep Discovering Dubai” campaign. This tourism campaign of Dubai will draw 2000 tourism professionals into the country from March to May, for the duration of three days. During this trip, the tourism professionals will be given a first hand experience of the Emirate. This shows the determination of Dubai to sustain its strong tourist numbers that it has experienced over the past several years.

Spain is also in the spotlight for boosting its tourism industry. It was recently announced by the country’s government of their plans of injecting €600 million into the Spanish property and tourism sector. These funds will be injected into renovating the country’s existing resorts, aiming to create thousands of jobs in the process. This should significantly increase the demand for properties that are located near popular Spanish resorts, as they attract greater number of tourists.

The “wealth amnesty” program targets the investments of expatriates abroad who are citizens of Turkey. Investments from Turkish expatriates living abroad have already reached 13.5 billion Turkish Lira, since the launch of the program. These investments are expected to continue flowing into the country as more Turkish expatriates invest into the country before the program reaches its deadline.

The wealth amnesty program is thought to have been successful, as the capital of 13.5 billion Turkish Lira meant that there was extra liquidity in Turkey. Investment into the country by expatriates was also previously encouraged by the government when they introduced tax cuts and financial incentives.

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Turkish Transportation Minister, Binali Yildirim, and his Iranian counterpart, Hamed Behbahani, finalised the MoU that will cover land, air and sea based transportation between the two countries. Turkey and Iran’s transportation officials will also aim to reach $20 billion in trade volume between the countries.

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In addition to signing the memorandum, Yildirim also met with Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmandinejad in Tehran, where they both discussed international and regional issues. They spoke about various avenues of increasing annual trade volume, improving transport cooperation and increasing communication between Turkey and Iran.

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Bodrum’s summit welcomed delegations from five other countries that included Morocco, Italy, Lebanon, Macedonia and Croatia. One of the delegates speaking at the summit praised Bodrum, highlighting its importance for Turkey.

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Meanwhile, Bodrum’s Mayor, Mazlum Agan, also spoke at the summit, underlining the acclaimed position of the region amongst the cities of the world. Agan added that Bodrum has been a popular destination for tourism since the 1960s, rapidly developing during the 1980s.

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The result of the research was derived from large amount of customer reviews. The aim of the survey was to create a guide for British tourists who are currently planning their vacations for the summer. This survey has customers name their favourite holiday destinations in terms of activities, restaurants, prices, climate, food and nightlife.

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Turkey’s tourism authority has said that the survey is likely to make a significant contribution towards the country’s promotional campaigns. Turkey is a popular holiday destination that has historical wonders, cultural values and beautiful scenery.

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Turkey seeking more export opportunities and is looking to diversify its trade markets to further strengthen its economy. Over the past few years, Turkey and Africa has experienced a positive growth in trade volume between the countries, evident as the value of this rose from $5.4 billion in 2003 to $17 billion in 2008.

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On the 20^th of February, President Abdullah Gul visited Kenya and then proceeded on to Tanzania. He was accompanied by more than 120 businessmen that represented Turkey’s effort in boosting trade relations with Africa. Turkish Presidents official three-day trip was his first to sub-Saharan nations.