Turkey electronic visa (e-Visa)

No more waiting in the queue at the Turkish embassies or consulates or upon arrival in Turkey for a visa application. Since early 2013, Turkey has introduced E-Visa, a new endorsement that allows the bearer to enter Turkey, to replace “sticker”- and “stamp-type” visas formerly issued at the border crossing. With e-visa, applicants now can obtain their visa electronically after entering required information and making payment by credit card instead of waiting in a queue upon arrival to Turkey.

To apply e-visa to enter Turkey, visit Turkey e-visa web site. After successful application, e-Visa is e-mailed to the applicant. Applicants must print out their e-Visa, show it to airport officials and customs officers and carry it with them at all times during the travel. E-Visa is only valid for tourism or trade purposes. For other purposes such as work or study, an application through our Embassies or Consulates must be submitted.

All you need to apply for e-visa for Turkey is a minimum 6-month-valid passport, flight (or any other possible means of transportation) reservation and a credit card (Master or Visa).

Each e-visa application online costs $20 and you must apply per person and you can’t not apply for a group of people.

Below is a video showing how to apply Turkey visa online.


Who is eligible for e-visa for Turkey?
Citizens of Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Comoros, Congo, Republic of theCongo, the Democratic Republic of the, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Cyprus, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Kuwait, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, São Tomé and Príncipe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Swaziland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Togo, U.S.A, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Yemen and Zambia are eligible to apply e-visa.
If you are a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Jamaica, Kuwait, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, U.S.A, United Arab Emirates or United Kingdom; you can apply and obtain multiple-entry e-visa.

Arab tourists enjoy the sea, sunshine as well as thermal tourism

Arab tourists are rediscovering Turkey and what it offers more than sunshine and sea, according to Anadolu Agency of Turkey. Tourist from Arab Countries show great interest in thermal tourism locations in Turkey such as Yalova in Turkey's northwest.

Termal, a thermal spring only 11 kilometers away from Yalova, is visited by tourists from United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar:

"In the past three years, we had a growing number of Arab tourists visiting the Termal town. In 2011, 179,000 tourists stayed over and this rose to 530,000 in 2012. We target one million tourists for the year of 2013. A mini Arab world gets formed in the town. This especially took place after the Middle East process was initiated by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan," said Mayor of Termal town Ismail Atik.
Source : Arab tourists explore Turkey

According to Mr. Atik Arab tourists spend more than European tourists and travel as a large family even with their baby sitters included.

Yalova in North Western Turkey offers many thermal hotel accomodation.
Photo - Yalova Thermal Camlik Hotel

Yalova is not the only thermal region discovered by Arab tourists. According to Hurriyet Daily News, Pamukkale is among those regions receiving its share of the growing Arab tourist market.

Pamukkale (meaning cotton castle), a natural formation in the Aegean province of Denizli and one of the popular tourist attractions in the country, has typically been visited by tourists from Europe. However, recent figures show that there has been a notable increase in the number of Arab tourists visiting the area.
Source : Arab tourists discover Turkey’s ‘cotton castle’

Pamukkale is famous with  bizarre calcium cliff bathing pools overlooking the town of Pamukkale which are products of very hot springs with a very high mineral content (notably chalk) arose at this location. The open air hot spring SPAs allow you to swim here even in winter under snow. Traditionally mostly visited by Europeans, Pamukkale recently became famous among Russians and visitors from Far East as well as Arab visitors.

Grand Hyatt Istanbul and Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet in top 10 best city hotela list in Europe

Two hotels in Istanbul, Grand Hyatt Istanbul and Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet, has been voted in the top 10 best hotels in Europe list of Travel + Leisure magazines World's Best Awards 2013.

Grand Hyatt Istanbul has been voted as the 4th best large city hotel in Europe in 2013 by Travel + Leisure readers in World's Best Awards 2013. The luxurious 5-Star hotel in the Sisli district of Istanbul has entered the Top 10 list first time this year. The first 3 hotels in the list are Ritz-Carlton, Berlin (96.00 score), Four Seasons Hotel, Gresham Palace, Budapest (95.52) and Stafford London by Kempinski (94.37).

Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet has been in the second position top small city hotels in Europe. The hotel was voted as the best in 2012 awards but pushed to second position by Mandarin Oriental, Munich.

Below are the top 10 small city hotels in Europe in 2013:

RANK	'12	NAME	SCORE
1	6	Mandarin Oriental, Munich	93.25
2	1	Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet	92.65
3	-	Hôtel D'Europe, Avignon, France	91.85
4	2	Milestone Hotel, London	91.82
5	-	Hotel Cipriani, Venice	91.00
6	8	Hotel Hassler Roma, Rome	90.88
7	9	La Mirande, Avignon, France	90.75
8	10	41, London	90.67
8	-	Hotel Helvetia & Bristol, Florence	90.67
10	-	Hotel Lungarno, Florence	90.31

Below are the top large city hotels in Europe 2013:

RANK	'12	NAME	SCORE
1	-	Ritz-Carlton, Berlin	96.00
2	2	Four Seasons Hotel, Gresham Palace, Budapest	95.52
3	14	Stafford London by Kempinski	94.37
4	-	Grand Hyatt Istanbul, Istanbul	93.60
5	-	Augustine Hotel, Prague	93.33
6	-	Hotel Imperial, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Vienna	92.69
7	-	Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa, Baden-Baden, Germany	92.67
8	-	The Connaught, a Maybourne Hotel, London	92.36
9	-	Corinthia Hotel, London	92.24
10	-	Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris	92.18

Bimeks employs workers with down syndrome

As of March 2013, 9 workers living with down syndrome are working as sales consultants in 9 large Teknoport stores owned by Bimeks in Turkey. The programme has started by the employment of first personnel with down syndrome in September 2012 in Istanbul Umraniye Buyaka Bimeks store's toy section and has been successfully extended to other stores. According to Bimeks General Manager Arif Bayraktar their workers with down syndrome are successfully working in different areas such as sales and housekeeping.

Currently the workers can direct customers to sections in which they can find what they are looking for. Bimeks is planning to make these personnel to learn to promote products directly to customers and perform sales. Bayraktar says "they are planning to work with their personnel with down syndrome for a long time."

Bimeks General Manager with 6 of their personnel with down syndrome.

 Bimeks is a technology store chain with 20+ stores in Turkey. 

Property in Turkey Still Hot for Overseas Buyers Despite Riots

Property in Turkey continues to prove an attractive prospect to foreigners despite the city riots seen in recent months, according to Oceanwide Properties highlighting latest housing sale figures. Based on Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning figures, the number of homes and land plots purchased by non-Turkish residents have doubled within the first six months of 2013.

Oceanwide Properties additionally highlight that the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul and follow-on demonstrations in some of Turkey’s larger cities have contributed to a 'perfect storm' of preferable exchange rates for property investors to seize upon.

Suleyman Akbay, Managing Director of the firm who exclusively specialise in property in Turkey, comments: “Despite the demonstrations that for a short time shook Turkey’s rising star image, latest buying figures coupled with the feedback from our own sales applicants suggest investor sentiment remains positive.

"The Turkish Lira recently dropped to 2.95TL to the GBP, meaning homebuyers are in fact currently set to make better investments, saving thousands of pounds and stretching budgets further.

"Furthermore, anticipated interest rate hikes to bridge the Lira’s drop is expected to add yet more value to bricks and mortar in Turkey, which is already being credited with providing the third highest property growth in the world [source: Knight Frank Global House Price Index].”

The firm, who have been marketing Turkish properties since 2005, attribute ongoing confidence to three factors:

Turkey’s political situation is more stable than surrounding countries. Like many neighbouring nations, Turkey too has experienced political unrest but this has not been motivated by economic woes and their duration and intensity were much shorter, with its main popular tourist regions along the coast untouched.

Bodrum Turkey

Turkey’s location is ideal - and not just for its sunkissed beaches and temperate climes. No, in terms of world travel Turkey is also well-placed to the extent that it was the sixth highest on international tourism arrivals chart last year. There’s no sign of its popularity abating either which has prompted the government to build a new major airport in Istanbul and for local regeneration initiatives to keep resorts like Fethiye top for tourism. And tourism places demand on rental housing stocks.

New laws are making buying property in Turkey easier. Citizens of countries who in the past were prevented from owning property are making the most of a new law which opened up the housing market to them (previously Turkey only allowed residents from countries which allowed Turkish citizens to settle in their own land to invest).

Other incentives include automatic one year residency permits for foreign property owners and the rights of Turkish citizenship after five years. There are also suggestions that the unpopular military clearance requirement on property purchases is also to be scrapped, speeding up the sales process.