PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

ISTANBUL: A Tale of Two Cities

Istanbul is the pupil of the world with her thousands years of history, unique geography at the crossroads of East and West and identity of melting different colors and cultures. As being the 8th most visited city in the world, every visitor who came to this city witness the natural beauty of the architecture, local values up to global realities and the spiritual climate of economic dynamism. Two billion people living within six hours’ flying time of Istanbul and being the only city on two continents gives the city a unique and privileged position. Istanbul has in-depth knowledge across many fields of expertise and the potential to absorb much more. Today, this unforgettable city is an ideal location for congresses and exhibitions with state of the art convention venues and vast accommodation alternatives.

Istanbul Chamber of Commerce’s main aim is to be worth of this city. Indeed, our main mission is to develop and introduce the values of this city to the world. In fact, Istanbul Convention & Visitors Bureau (ICVB) established under the Tourism Development and Education Foundation (TUGEV) continues to be an expression of our efforts and determination since 1997.

The number of congresses in Istanbul increased by 280% in the last decade. Istanbul’s rank rose to 8th in 2015 from 40th in 2000 according to ICCA statistics. Istanbul hosted 181 international congresses with 84,200 delegates and 288 domestic congresses with a total number of 78,600 delegates in 2016. As ICVB, our main and primary goal is to retain this acceleration.

Istanbul continues to host prestigious congresses in 2017 as well, just to name a few; World Petroleum Congress (WPC) with 5.000 delegates, Apimondia International Apicultural Congress with 8.000 delegates, World Conference of the International Association of Science Parks (IASP) and WFNS World Congress of Neurosurgery.

As ICVB, we work towards making Istanbul one of the most desirable destinations in the world for the meetings industry. Managing an ever growing business, our goal for 2023 is to make Istanbul among top five in the world.

I believe that we will continue to meet the world with Istanbul in the way that we walk in unity.

Respectfully Yours,

İbrahim ÇAĞLAR

President of ICVB & ICOC