How is Business Sector in Turkey
Turkey is a country that by its location, at close proximity to Europe, the Middle East and the Caucasus. It takes no more than three hours by plane to most major European hubs. As an advantage of its geopolitical importance, Turkey creates a bridge between two continents. Between Asia and Europe, Turkey acts as a corridor of energy.
Turkey’s youth provides the fourth largest labour force among EU members and accession countries. With its population over 75 million people and an average age of 29, Turkey’s workforce is over a decade younger than the EU average.
Supported greatly by its macroeconomic policy framework, Turkish economy has grown immensely after the 2001 financial crisis. Especially between the years 2002 and 2008, Turkey’s GDP recorded a growth of 5.8%. Throughout the same period, EU average was 1.8%. Some economists suggest that over the next decade, Turkey’s growth will match or exceed that of any country except China and India. Others predict it could become the world’s 10th biggest economy by 2050.
Despite the stagnation, Turkish economy continues to record respectable growth rates. Business in Turkey continues to carry the country economy through hard times. A closer look at high-performance sectors reveals an entirely different operation than that of 20 years ago.
Infrastructure
Turkey’s infrastructure industry has been its pioneer business sector over 15 years. Once a stagnant sector, Turkey’s infrastructure has experienced great improvements through mega-projects. To help with the economy, Turkey upgraded its airports, bridges, highways and railways. Together with the growth of population and trade, the need for improved infrastructure drives the sector.
Turkish businesses have generated 135 billion USD worth of contracts since the year 1986. Almost 70 million USD of this amount has been used for airports. These airports in turn benefited tourism and trade activities of the country greatly.
There are two projects at hand that Turkey plans to go through with in the near future that are particularly of interest. One of them is the recently opened Istanbul Airport which is one of the biggest airports in Europe. The new airport is projected to host one of the busiest air traffics in the world. The second project is named Istanbul Kanal and it already gained immense attention in the international media.
Foreign Real Estate
As mentioned before in this article, during the last two decades, Turkish GDP has risen considerably. Thanks to the growth in GDP, people could afford real estate ownership. In addition, compared to 2002, mortgage interest rates have been distinctively lower. These, and several other reasons combined have led the Turkish real estate business to its huge success.
As Turkey softened the regulations on international buyers, Turkish citizenship by investment process also gained popularity. With Turkey’s program that promotes real estate investment, foreign real estate investors had their eye on low prices per square metre, as well as a fast track title deeds service. Apart from the residential properties, foreign legal entities also got involved in office projects.
In the last 15 years, foreign real estate investment in Turkey totalled 42 billion USD. Leader of the Turkish real estate market has always been Istanbul. However, recent years have seen improvements in cities like Bursa and Trabzon, too. Especially among Middle Eastern investors, alternatives of Istanbul are gaining more popularity every day.
Tourism
In 2014, 42 million people visited Turkey. That year, Istanbul was the sixth most popular destination in Europe. 2014’s tourism numbers also indicated that Turkey might reach their target of attracting 50 million tourists a year before their targeted date of 2023. Yet, due to a period of stagnation, the increase in the numbers has somewhat slowed down. As of 2018, tourism in Turkey started to get back on its track.
However, Turkey still has a lot of work to do to promote its tourism at international level. Investors all around the world constantly look for opportunities, and Turkey, without a doubt, is a hot destination.
