investment info for türkey

Turkey has provided big advantage to the investors since it is a
growing market and has friendly environment with one-stop investment
opportunity. In the year 2002 its market share is 1.7 by visited13.2
million tourist and generated 8.5 million revenue. Those figures were
recorded 5% higher for 2003. According to World Tourism Organization
Turkey will be the fastest growing country in tourism demands with an
annual rate of %10.
As it has been ranked in the world first fifteen destination by 14
million visitors a year Turkey has tried to offer different projects to
have developed its accommodation facilities and tourism kinds. In order
to diversify the tourism product Turkey has promoted the sites located
inland areas to those having different taste than 3S (sea, sand and
sun) combination and coastal region as well. Currently, tourism
activities in the country are concentrated along Aegean and
Mediterranean coasts where about 80% of Turkey's bed capacity exists.
However investments have been made on accomadations are not sufficient
to correspond the future tourism demands that will be directed to
Turkey, therefore Turkey has a strong desire to attract both the
national and intenational investors particularly in the regions mostly
visited.
The sites and lands that would officially declared as `preservation and
development areas of culture and tourism regions are being planned by
the ministry of Culture and Tourism. Ministry has opened up the areas
for investments in terms of its priority having as a destination. For
the officially designated sites, the land allocation process for the
investors will be started by the approval of the macro physical plans.
The physical plans for the whole region or the sub-regions, are
made/get made and approved by the Ministry.
Those sites where investments would be directed are Dalyan, Tarsus,
Didim, Antalya and Istanbul. Attached you will find power point
presentation on the regions above. Moreover so far 160 tourist centers
have been designated under the Tourism Encouragement Law. Aside those
sides that are still in progress, Ministry of Tourism has provided
parcels on the coastlines in the well developed tourist regions such as
Belek, Kemer, Fethiye
The Tourism Encouragement Law was newly updated. According to new
procedure, whole region or one lot of it may be allocated to a main
investor. In this case the decision is put in force by Council of
Ministers and pre-permission is given to this investor by the Ministry.
In case of approval of the project of the investor by the Ministry,
following the arrangement of the investment license, the pre-permission
is turned into the final permission by the Ministry. Investors will be
determined via open tender and in the designated sites and regions,
they would get an easement, including autonomous and permanent right of
construction. This type of right institution allow investors to get
mortgage from national or international markets. Furthermore investors
have the right to sell the area or the construction to the third
parties without permission of the Ministry.
The idea behind this Law is to encourage land development projects and
tempt international chains and trademarks.
Furthermore those provided under the The Encouragement of Tourism are
mainly:
- Allocation of public land to investors for tourism investments
- Permission to employ foreign personnel and artists
- Discounts on water, electiricity and gas prices
- Priority in allocations of telephone, fax and telex lines
- Tax, Duty and Fee exceptions, such as VAT and Customs Duty
To benefit from incentives, investors should obtain an incentive
certificate from the Treasury Undersecretariat and a Tourism Investment
Certificate from the Ministry of Tourism.
The following are the types of investment for which Tourism Investment
Certificates may be issued:
1. Accomodation Facilites
2. Dining and Entertainment Facilities
3. Auxiliary Service Facilities (such as, beach facilities, congress
and exhibition centers, theme parks, golf facilities)
4. Tourism Complexes
5. Personnel Training Facilities
6. Yacht Tourism Facilities
The most important aspect of any investment, particularly a tourism
investment, is location. A choice of location has a direct impact on
the profitability of the investment. It must be not only suitable for a
tourism investment in terms of their physical characteristics, but also
be allocated for tourism under land use plans. No Tourism Facilites may
be constructed on land not allocated for tourism uses in Land Use Plans
of any scale. If your land is located in an are allocated for tourism
under approved plans, this means it is ready for a tourism investment.
Then you may proceed with design work.
You may also apply for allocation of Public Land located within a
tourism area or center. Tourism areas and centres are determined and
announced by the Council of Ministers upon the proposal of the Ministy
of Tourism which requires to be developed on a priority basis. Those
which are deemed appropriate for allocation to investors are from time
to time announced to tourism investors by the Ministry of Tourism
through advertisements placed in newspaper. Applications are finalized
by the Land Allocation Committee within 2 months. The investor should
then apply to the Ministry of Tourism with the necessary documents,
lay-out plans and architectural designs to obtain Tourism Investment
Certificate.
Facilities to be certified with Tourism Investment Certificates must
meet certain requirements as stated in the regulation. These are very
detailed and include, safety and environmental protection measures,
design, capacity, price tariffs, personnel training, main and optional
units etc.
The allocation period is up to 49 years. The exact period shall be
determined by the Land Allocation Commission taking into account
factors such as the type, class and capacity of the facility and the
characteristics of the location. Rent will be paid to the Treasury
annually and in advance. At the end of the allocation period, the
facilities shall pass to the Treasury without any payment.
The Ministry also issues Tourism Establishment Certificates to
establishments operating in the tourism sector in accordance with the
regulations set forth by the Ministry. Hotels are classified as five,
four, three, two and one-star hotels; motes and holiday villages as,
first class and second class; restaurants as third class, second class,
first class and deluxe. Minimum qualifications for each are determined
precisely. Qualifications for quest houses, camping sites, apart
hotels, motor caravans, hostels, rural tourism facilites, golf
facilities, entertainment centers are also determined in detail.

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