Turkey’s real estate market is directing its focus from shopping mall projects toward new hotel chains, with more entrepreneurs investing in this field.
Speaking to the Anatolia news agency on Tuesday, Işıl Dinçer, the general manager of TSKB Gayrimenkul Değerleme, a Turkish real estate rating firm, said they have been conducting market research on investors’ tendencies in the Turkish real estate sector for the past month and have seen that more and more investors are switching their interest to building new hotels.
Dinçer said such interest in hotel investment is more apparent on the Anatolian side of İstanbul, adding that both foreign and local investors are active to this end. Some major hotel chains are looking to open hotels in Turkey, and this has led to a noticeable recuperation in the domestic market. Currently, land close to Sabiha Gökçen International Airport is attracting investors on the Anatolian side. Such famous hotel chains as Marriott, Hilton, Divan and Titanic have already invested in the region, having seen the increasing potential. Dinçer explained that with an additional terminal, the airport’s passenger capacity will more than double by the beginning of 2010. The district of Kozyatağı is another location that is in the spotlight for hotel investments on the Asian side, she added. She noted that new hotels on İstanbul’s European side are being built around a “congress valley” in İstanbul’s Harbiye district, a project which is still under way and due to be finished before the end of the year.
The head of the International Association of Travel and Tourism Professionals Skal International, Hülya Aslantaş, said Turkey is attracting the attention of international hotel chains because the country receives more tourists with every passing year. She said many hotel managers are following the Turkish market closely and that Turkey should take advantage of this fact and attract as much investment as it can.
Michael Collini, Hilton vice president for development in northern Europe, has said Turkey has great potential for new hotel investments, particularly in economy and mid-range hotels. Currently there is increasing activity in hotel investments in the Turkish market, he said, adding that the country needs more foreign investments to diversify and increase the quality of its hotel market. Collini said the Hilton group expects to open 13 new hotels in Turkey before the end of 2010. The new Hilton hotels will be built in the provinces of Diyarbakır, Kütahya, Manisa, Bursa, Şanlıurfa, Mersin, Çorlu and Çorum.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s Afken Group has recently announced a new project to open 60 new hotels in Turkey before 2019. Having signed a strategic partnership with Accor, the third-largest hotel group in the world, in 2005, Afken plans to finish seven of the hotels, located in İzmit, Bursa, İstanbul, Kayseri and Gaziantep before the end of 2010. Accor will have the right to operate the hotels built by Afken for some 20 years following the completion of the project.
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Tarık Nasser, chief advisor of Marriot Turkey, said new hotel investments in Turkey were generally undertaken by local contractor firms and their company generally prefers to operate existing hotels. “We are currently seeking new investment opportunities in İstanbul, Bursa and some other provinces.”
The number of new shopping malls has skyrocketed in İstanbul in past few years, and Sunrise Queen Hotels Vice Chairman Sadettin Ulubay said the city faces “shopping mall saturation” for the time being. “Shopping mall investment has lost its popularity in İstanbul. From now on, people are focusing on hotel projects, and we will do the same.”
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