Skift Take
Istanbul is emerging as a new global business hub due to massive infrastructure improvements, including what will be the largest capacity airport in Europe, but security fears could potentially dampen growth.
According to the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA), Istanbul was the eighth busiest convention city in the world last year, up from 46th place at the beginning of the century.
The dramatic increase in convention business in Turkey's busiest gateway city aligns with the rise of leisure tourism. Istanbul climbed two spots in the 2015 MasterCard Global Destinations Cities Index, surpassing New York and Singapore, to become the fifth most visited city in the world.
The 10 international source markets with the highest number of inbound arrivals, in order from first are: Germany, Iran, Russia, Britain, France, U.S., Italy, Holland, Ukraine, and Iraq.
Out of the 40 cities listed in the MasterCard Index, Istanbul recorded the highest jump over 2014 at 11.4%. Bangkok and Dubai followed next at around 8%.
“Istanbul has a much higher growth rate than Paris," reads the report. "If these two cities continue to grow their international visitors’ numbers at the current rates, in four years, Istanbul will overtake Paris to become second ranked in Europe after London.”
However, it remains to be seen if the 2016 ICCA and MasterCard reports coming out this summer will show a somewhat different story due to the multiple bombings over the last year in Istanbul and Ankara.
Either way, Istanbul is preparing for continued growth with the new Istanbul Grand Airport opening in 2019, equipped to handle north of 150 million passengers per year. That's more than double what airports like London Heathrow and Dubai International are processing now on an annual basis.
To support the increased traffic from the airport, Istanbul is presently undergoing massive road and rail infrastructure expansions, including a new bridge and new tunnel crossing over and under the Bosphorous.
Meanwhile, the Istanbul Convention & Visitors Bureau launched its new "Tale of Two Cities" branding last year to promote the city's contemporary energy as much as its 8,500 years of history linking Europe and Asia.
We spoke with Ozgul Ozkan Yavuz, general manager of the Istanbul CVB, for insight into the bureau's marketing efforts, the city's infrastructure upgrades, and her thoughts about how the socio-political unrest polarizing Europe is impacting one of the world's most multicultural cities.
Skift: How has Istanbul managed to climb the ICCA rankings so dramatically over the last decade?
Ozgul Ozkan Yavuz: Istanbul and Turkey hav
