Bordering Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Syria, Turkey displays a unique blend of East and West tradition. Throughout its long history, Turkey has been a convergence point of the East and the West.
Ranked as the 15th largest economy in the world, Turkey is competing with most of the popular European tourist destinations like Greece, Italy and Spain. Turkey offers middle-Eastern cuisine and Islamic religion allied with a westernized democracy pushing to join the European Union (EU) in 2013.
Terrain
Turkey has diverse scenery. It encompasses azure Mediterranean coasts, dusty Anatolian plains, bustling Black Sea ports, pastoral Kurdish territories and the cultural cosmopolis of Constantinople, modern Istanbul.
It stretches over 1,500 kilometres end to end, from the Greek islands in the west, past the limestone cave-worlds of Cappadocia and the snowy forests of the Kashkar, to the Biblical slopes of Mount Ararat on the east with Armenia and Iran.
History
Historically, it has seen three of the world’s largest empires from the ancient Greeks, some of their key cities (including Troy and Ephesus) are in modern-day Turkey, to the Byzantines, the ‘Eastern Romans’ who created their capital at Constantinople and the Ottomans, who ruled all from Vienna to Iran.
Tourism
Tourism is focused largely on a variety of archaeological and historical sites and on seaside resorts along with its Aegean and Mediterranean coasts. Turkey is modern enough to be comfortable yet traditional to be interesting. Here, the visitors will have the opportunity to explore historic treasures spanning 10,000 years.
The most-popular destination among the tourists is Istanbul. The only city in the world to span two continents, Istanbul offers a rich legacy of mosques, churches, museums and magnificent palaces, coupled up with bustling market and a vibrant street life.
Turkey offers many types of activity holidays like water sports and yachting, hiking, white-water rafting, mountain climbing and cycling. Turkey may not be the obvious ski destination, but it does have a number of winter sports resorts, generally located in forested mountains of average height.
Climate
Turkey is a huge country with a climate that varies from region to region but generally the north enjoys hot summers and chilly winters with the occasional dusting of snow. The Anatolian plateau makes up the centre of Turkey and can be extremely hot in summer and freezing cold in winter. But most of the visitors head to the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts where winters are mild and often wet, autumn and spring are short seasons and summer is long, hot and dry.
| General | |
| Language | Turkish |
| Time Zone | EET(UTC+2) |
| Dialing Code | 90 |
| Electricity | 230V, 50Hz |
| Major Cities | Istanbul, Ankara |
| Currency | Turkish lira |
| Clothing | Casual dress for most places. No shorts, sleeveless tops or revealing clothing for men or women. |
| Health Related |
|
| Mortality Rate | 6.1 deaths/ 1,000 population |
| Life Expectancy | M 71/ F 75 |
| Patient: Physician Ratio | 750: 1 |
| Hospitals JCI accredited | 44 |
| Recommended Vaccinations | Hepatitis A, Typhoid, Hepatitis B, Rabies, Diphtheria-tetanus, Measles and Varicella. |
| Other Infections | Legionnaires’ disease, Cutaneous leishmaniasis, Tick-borne relapsing fever, Louse-borne relapsing fever, Brucellosis, Anthrax, HIV |
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Tourism Related |
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| Population | 77,804,122 |
| Global Competitiveness | 4.25 |
| Tourism Competitiveness | 4.2 |
| GDP/Capita | 8,723 |
| Health and Hygiene | 4.8/7 |
| Safety and Security | 4.6/7 |
| Air Transport Infrastructure | 3.8/7 |
| Tourism Infrastructure | 4.0/7 |
| Cultural Infrastructure | 4.3/7 |
| Visa Requirements | 21/133 |
| Reliability of Police Services | 83/133 |
| Physician Density | 65/133 |
| Hospital Beds | 68/133 |
| Quality of Air Transport Infrastructure | 55/133 |
| International Air Transport Network | 52/133 |
| Quality of Roads | 54/133 |
| Hotel Rooms | 64/133 |
| Tourism Openness | 96/133 |
| Attitude of Population Towards Foreign Visitors | 42/133 |