News from Turkey

A new research from Marbles reveals the world's most affordable shopping cities for shopaholics and holidaymakers. The research finds the world's top 30 cities for a shopping weekend from a British perspective. Istanbul has been selected as the number 1 city for affordable shopping.

Constructed by TAV-Al Arrab Contracting Joint Venture in Riyadh, King Khaled Airport Terminal 5 Project was awarded the "Transportation Project of the Year" at “MEED Quality Awards for Projects” competition held by MEED Magazine in Dubai.

Just like Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines also announced a similar laptop service. Turkey’s national flag carrier has now started to offer laptops for its business class passengers of U.S. bound flights as of today. It will also launch the same practice for its U.K. bound business class passengers as of 12th May, 2017.

HotelsPro announced the key points about the accurate and efficient usage of big data which enable travel professionals to touch the customers properly.

Middle East Airlines (ME) and Turkish Airlines (TK) signed today a codeshare agreement. The agreement will be effective as of May 15th, covering routes between Turkey and Lebanon, and expanding the travel opportunities for the passengers of both airlines.

Turkey's tourism industry continues to suffer in 2017. Most recently we published that Turkish tourism revenue and arrivals continue to drop in first quarter of 2017. Addition to those, Turkey has also dropped one spot to fourth as the top performing destination in the global Muslim travel market.

Contemporary Istanbul hosted a cocktail reception at the residence of Ambassador of Turkey in Delhi, HE Şakir Torunlar with initiative of Abhishek Basu, CI Ambassador for Delhi and brought together several key figures from the international art scene.

World Cities Expo Istanbul 2017, organized by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB), is going to take place on May 15th to 18th at Haliç Congress Center Istanbul. As cities become "smart cities" in the 21st century, World Cities Expo Istanbul will bring ideas and experts at the forefront of this transformation together in Istanbul. However today, IBB announced the withdrawal of Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales’s invitation for the event, following Turkey's telecommunications watchdog banned access to Wikipedia on April 29, 2017.

Turkish tourism revenue reached $3.4 billion in the first quarter of the year with a 17.1% year-on-year decrease, amid the continuing decline in the number of foreign arrivals, data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TUIK).

Having brought together 70 galleries from 20 countries and over 1,500 artworks by 520 artists in its 11th year, Contemporary Istanbul continues its preparations for its next edition with an exclusive event in New York during Frieze New York.

Copa Airlines, subsidiary of Copa Holdings, S.A., and Turkish Airlines, both members of Star Alliance, signed a Codeshare Agreement which will offer passengers more flight options with seamless connections through Copa’s Hub of the Americas, in Panama City, and Turkish’s seamless gateway to Europe through the company’s Hub, in Istanbul, Turkey.

Overall number of outbound Russian tourists decreased in 2016 but number of those visiting relatives or friends and number of visiting special events remained about the same. However beginning of summer season in 2017, tour operators say outbound travel will grow this year. TUI Russia alone plans to increase travel volume by 3.5 times.

Kuleli Military High School, which was the oldest military high school in Turkey - located in Çengelköy on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, will be turned into a museum. It was founded on September 21, 1845, by Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I and closed last year following the coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

Real Madrid Foundation Clinic Turkey will be held at Regnum Carya Golf & Spa Resort between June 19th and September 8th, 2017. Kids between 6 and 17 years old will learn, travel, have fun, play together with other children in Turkey.