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'World Tourism Forum'

World Tourism Forum is a Turkish foundation based in Istanbul. World Tourism Forum’s aim is to develop tourism globally. Forum was kicked off in 2015. World Tourism Forum is organized four times every year, under the auspices of Presidency of the Republic of Turkey, in global centers around the world, bringing together world tourism leaders and tourism industry representatives. Regional meetings are held five times a year in different cities around the world such as Doha, New Delhi, Moscow, Amman and Antalya, and one global meeting is held once a year in Istanbul.

World Tourism Forum 2015

World Tourism Forum Global Meeting 2015 was held with the support of the Ministry Culture and Tourism. Leaders of the tourism industry from Europe, USA, Russia, the Caucasus and Azerbaijan discussed the future of industry and exchanged ideas at the forum. Topics covered at the forum were included Online Tourism, Effects of Politics on Tourism, Health Tourism, Destination Marketing, New Vision in Aviation, Hospitality and Advertising Solutions in Tourism.

Online Tourism:

Travelling around the globe is becoming more important day by day both for consumers and businesses. New channels such as social media, online reservation and travelling consultancy web sites are very popular among travellers. New millennials, who are getting used to new technologies rapidly, will be the next customers of tourism industry. In this regard, online tourism will be one of the most important topics in tourism industry.

Effects of Politics on Tourism:

In recent years political crisis has influenced the tourism potential of some countries. Not only the politics, but also economy and health issues are affecting the tourism negatively. Since tourism is a big market for countries, political planning can be identified as an important aspect on its growth.

New Vision in Aviation:

Parallel with developments in technology and tourism, aviation industry also shows fast growth. Due to the expansion in tourism industry, secure and fast aviation transportation has become very important around the globe. These changing perspectives made aviation companies develop their policies.

Health Tourism:

In order to receive medical care, people are travelling to different countries. Under these circumstances a new field in tourism industry has become very important. People are travelling to other countries in order to get lower cost health services. Thanks to cheaper flight options, increased marketing activities in health tourism and easy-to-access online opportunities of the health institutions, medical tourism is growing positively day-by-day.

Destination Marketing:

As everything can be consumed easily in today’s world, tourism destinations are also becoming consumable. Destinations play an important role in improving country’s economy. Countries develop new marketing and positioning strategies in order to achieve success in destination marketing.

Advertising Solutions in Tourism:

With the developments in information technologies, online marketing has become the most important advertising solution in tourism industry. Online advertising is very effective in respect of its cost, flexibility and measurability.

Hospitality Industry:

Changing world order has created a new competitive market in tourism industry. Technological and life style changes also influenced tourism industry. With the development of new concept of service, hotels try to provide best service, best design experience to guests.

2015 Mediterranean Summit

World Tourism Forum Mediterranean Summit provided insight into tourism trends and developments from global and regional perspectives. World tourism leaders, regional representatives, government authorities came together to define the future of tourism. World Tourism Forum Mediterranean Summit was held in 10 December 2015 in Antalya. Main topics covered in the summit were World Tourism towards 2030, Online Tourism, Tourism Investments, Destination Management & Marketing and Expo 2016.

World Tourism Forum 2016

World Tourism Forum 2016 was held in Istanbul, one of the world’s largest, oldest cities in the world, hosted continuous civilizations and existed as the capital of the biggest empires for hundreds of years in history. Leaders of tourism industry from the United Kingdom, France, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, China, Azerbaijan, Ghana and other countries. 123 speakers from different countries addressed to 5000 audiences in 2016 meeting. Topics covered at the forum were included Online Tourism, World Tourism towards 2030, Investments in Tourism, Political Influence on Tourism, Congress Tourism and Health Tourism.

Political Impacts on the Tourism Industry:

Tourism industry has been under some degree of threat for 12-18 months. Not only because of terrorism but also by the reason of economy and health issues. These problems automatically effect the hotel reservations.

Health Tourism:

People travel to different places in order to find cure to their health problems. In the turn of the 21st century, people who are not satisfied with the health services in their country, started to look for other opportunities and found ways in other countries. That’s how the health tourism was born. Innovation in the Tourism Industry: What was the biggest innovation change in travel last 65 years? It was the jet engine. It transforms the way we travel, the speed we travel, commercial flights expanded to a very fast rate over decades. In the future we may travel from London to Sydney in 32 minutes. Imagine its contribution to tourism industry.

New Technology Dimensions in the Tourism Industry:

At the end of 2018, 46% of the world population will be millenials. They think about the world in a different way. They don’t know phone with cord, fax machine etc. They don’t speak on the phone, they prefer to text. These millennial people, who get used to rapid technological changes, will be the new customers of the tourism.

Featured Speakers at World Tourism Forum

•	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan[|Recep Tayyip Erdoğan], President of Republic of Turkey

•	José Manuel Barroso[|José Manuel Barroso], Former President of European Comission

•	Mahir Ünal[|Mahir Ünal], Former Minister of Culture and Tourism of Republic of Turkey

•	Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive Association [|Association of British Travel Agents] (ABTA)

World Tourism Awards

World Tourism Awards is an international awards ceremony to honor tourism service providers that are endavoring for superiority. In 36 categories, World Tourism Awards is highlighting the best tourism industry companies. World Tourism Awards, which is considered as the “Oscars” of tourism industry, is held once in a year in Istanbul.