ISTANBUL
“WE ARE DESCRIBED AS AN ‘EMERGING WORLD CITY’,” says Ozgul Yavuz, general manager of the Istanbul Convention and Visitors Bureau (ICVB). The phrase is used by the likes of consulting giant AT Kearney to rank those destinations with potential to become global leaders – in 2014 it ranked the city 15th in the world. Perhaps ‘re-emerging’ would be a better
word: Istanbul, straddling Europe and Asia, and home to 14 million people, has previously been the capital of three epochal empires: Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman. Either way, there are plenty of figures
to back up the sentiment. KPMG’s Global Cities Investment Monitor for 2014 put Istanbul in its top 25 for ‘global attractive- ness’ to businesses (it falls within Europe’s top seven) and for ‘green field’ investments – multinationals constructing new facilities from the ground up. Meanwhile, in 2013, Forbes ranked Istanbul 11th place in its chart
112 BBT MARCH/APRIL 2015
of fastest-growing megacities. UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) research highlights some eye-catching points about the country, including the fact that Turkey is currently the fastest emerging market of Europe and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries; and the OECD projects Turkey as the third-fastest growing country after China and India by 2017 – and says it will overtake India after that. Meanwhile, Yavuz highlights the meet-
ings, incentives, conferences and exhibi- tions (MICE) sector: Istanbul is ranked in eighth place for international association meetings according to the latest statistics from the International Congress and Con- vention Association (ICCA) – up from 36th in 2000. For meetings of between 300 and 500 delegates, it is ranked number one. “It has been a journey,” says Yazuf, which she says started when Istanbul hosted the
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK IN PRIME POSITION AT THE CROSSROADS OF EUROPE AND ASIA, TURKEY’S ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL HEART IS RE-EMERGING AS A GLOBAL FORCE
1996 United Nations Habitat Conference, turning one of the city’s major sports arenas into a conference hall, now the Lutfi Kırdar Convention and Exhibition Center. The following year the ICVB was founded. “Everything accelerated after that, with a more conscious focus on meetings and events,” she says. “We have lots of potential and advantages, because geographically we are in the centre of the world. So it’s a good location and good business – and we have to invest more to grow.” Neslihan Ayik, sales and marketing
director for HRG Turkey, paints a similar picture. “Business travel and MICE in Istanbul is certainly increasing, and has been over the last few years – despite cost-saving initiatives from many multi- national companies,” she says. “Internal MICE activities are increasing, but we’re also seeing more activity from overseas.” February saw the city host the Ace of
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