This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 000527 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SE AND EB/IFD 
TREASURY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - CPLANTIER 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON
SUBJECT: SUNNY SKIES OVER ISTANBUL TOURISM INDUSTRY 
 
REF:  ANKARA 1460 
 
¶1. (U) Summry: There may be overcast skies in the tourism 
industry elsewhere in Turkey, but in Istanbul the sunis 
shining, according to two leading figures in the industry. 
The Ministry of Tourism calculates 4.9 million tourists 
visited Istanbul in 2005, 23 of atotal 1.1million 
visitors to Turkey.  Istanbul's convention centeris fully 
booked through 2009 and has reservation through 2012.  A 
secon convention center will open in July 2006 with four 
times the capacity of he current one.  Seven new five-star 
hotels willalso come on the market within the next two 
year, bringing the total to 33.  These developments relect 
an expected growth in Istanbul tourism of 15%for206. Al 
igns oint to Istanbul's touris indsty avng 
sccesfully weathered the Avia Influenza and recent 
terrorism shocks, with touism a growing source of revenue 
for the city.  Nvertheless, recent bombings and unrest in 
Istanbu and elsewhere could, if unabated, threaten the 
ibrancy of Istanbul's tourism industry.  End Summay. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Timur Bayindir, Pesident of the Tukish Hotel 
Association, epresse confiene n arch 29 in the hotel- 
touis business in Istanbul, but was skeptical of the 
government's role.  In particular, he criticized a new 3% 
`habitation tax' for hotels that is being contemplated.  If 
the government does not interfere, he expects the sector to 
grow for the next 10 years.  Within two years important 
additions to tourism infrastructure will take place: seven 
five-star hotels will boost capacity by 15% (adding 15,000 
beds to current 100,000 hotel beds). 
 
¶3. (U) While there may be no national increase in 2006 over 
2005 (reftel), Bayindir estimates that tourism in Istanbul 
will grow by 15%.  Similarly, in 2005 Istanbul tourism's 30% 
increase eclipsed the national increase of 21%.  So far, 
Istanbul's tourism sector has successfully weathered several 
recent small-scale terrorism incidents, including bombings, 
that have occurred in the city.  He concedes, however, that 
as tourists are by their nature peace-seekers, violent 
headlines about Turkey - even if the violence is far from 
Istanbul - may over time dissuade them from visiting. 
 
¶4. (U) Orhan Sanus, General Manager of the main Convention 
Center (Lutfi Kirdar), was also optimistic on March 31 about 
Istanbul tourism.  The convention center he manages is fully 
booked through 2009, and has reservations through 2012 (he 
explained that large-scale international conferences need a 
long lead-time); to date, they have not changed their plans 
as a result of issues like Avian Influenza or recent 
terrorist incidents. 
 
¶5. (U) A second convention center in Istanbul will boost 
capacity starting in July 2006, adding space for 5,000-6,000 
attendees to the current 1,500 capacity.  This added supply, 
coupled with the new hotel infrastructure, will tap into 
international demand for convention-center space.  Of the 
4,200 international conferences in the world each year, 30 
are held in the current convention center - Sanus believes 
Istanbul should be able to host 100 each year after the new 
convention center opens. 
 
¶6. (U) Istanbul, moreover, seems to have increasing success 
attracting the highest-profile conferences, such as the 2005 
Asian Development Bank annual meeting.  Turkish Treasury 
officials told Embassy Ankara that Istanbul is also on a 
short list to host the 2009 annual meeting of the IMF. 
Separately, it has just been given the nod to host the 2009 
World Water Forum.  A U.S. business group planning to bring 
70 executives in November 2006 informed Embassy Ankara that 
they had trouble finding rooms at one of the major hotels, 
with several already booked.  To intensify this trend, Sanus 
believes Turkey needs to better promote itself 
internationally: "it is a question of telling the world who 
we are, what is here, and what sort of infrastructure we 
have." 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment: Istanbul tourism's success comes against a 
backdrop of declining numbers for the country nationally. 
Our contacts are quick to distinguish the mass-market 
tourism that characterizes the south coast from the higher 
value-added and "cultural" tourism that Istanbul attracts 
(e.g. 40,000 Greek visitors are expected over Easter this 
year to visit the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the key spiritual 
center of world Orthodoxy).  Spending per capita, our 
contacts estimate, is much higher for Istanbul visitors than 
the $700 average for Turkey as a whole, and is also much 
more widely distributed through the economy than is the 
income stemming from all-inclusive resorts in Antalya and 
elsewhere.  End Comment. 
TAGS: ECON
 
JONES