News

Research company Euromonitor has published its annual ranking of the top 5 most visited cities in the world in 2023. Istanbul was ranked first with 20 million tourists, followed by London in second place (18.8 million tourists), Dubai in third place (16.8 million tourists), Antalya in fourth place (16.5 million tourists) and Paris in fifth place (15.5 million tourists).

Alanya Municipality has started work on the project of a sports complex to be built on an area of 200,000 m in the Elikesik Mahallesi neighborhood of Konakli, which will be the largest complex in the region. The project consists of 3 phases. Phase 1 includes the construction of tennis courts, a soccer field with a capacity of 2500 people, soccer training fields, a building for athletes' accommodation and a complex including conference halls, a restaurant and cafeteria, indoor and outdoor public and sports grounds and 45 rooms for 100 people.

iGA Istanbul Airport has won first place in five categories in the Global Traveler Tested Reader's Survey Awards 2023. The airport was the leader in the categories "Best Airport in the World", "Best Airport in Europe", "Best Airport for Shopping", "Best Duty Free Zone" and "Best Restaurant Zone". In the past 11 months of 2023, 200 million people have used Turkish Airlines!

According to a regulation published in the Official Gazette of the Ministry of Commerce, all restaurants, cafes and other catering companies will be obliged to place price lists at the entrance to the establishment and on every table. The decree will come into force on January 1, 2024.

Whoever takes a bundle of tickets will get....400 million liras! That's if you're lucky, of course. Let mathematicians calculate the probability of winning in lotteries, but we will talk about the traditional New Year lottery in Turkey - Milli Piyango. The national lottery in Turkey appeared in 1889. In 1939, Milli Piyango, a company controlled by the Prime Minister of Turkey, became the official ticket dealer. In fact, the Milli Piyango lotteries are held all year round, but it is before New Year's Eve that every Turk feels obliged to buy a cherished ticket, so that on New Year's Eve, sitting in front of the TV screen, to watch the announcement of the results with excitement.

The tender for the Antalya-Alanya highway project, the construction of which will be supervised by the General Directorate of Roads (KGM) of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure (UDH), has been finalized. The tender, worth 76.7 billion liras, went to Limak Construction. Limak Construction Group is the 181st largest construction company in the world according to Engineering News Record's ranking. According to the same magazine's 2022 ranking, it is the 67th largest construction company in the world.

Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Ka ır announced that Turkey's first astronaut, Alper Gezeravcı, will go into space on January 17, 2024. Gezeravcı will take part in the flight together with Spanish, Italian and Swedish astronauts and will stay on the International Space Station for 14 days. Minister Fatih Ka ır said that as part of the ISS stay program, Gezeravcı will conduct 13 different scientific experiments in fields such as biology, medicine, material science and genetics. One of the experiments was prepared by students of the Muş Science and Art Center.

The Professional Football Disciplinary Commission (PFDK) of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) announced the punishment imposed on Ankarag c Club and club president Faruk Ko e. The soccer club has been fined 2 million liras. In addition, the next 5 matches of the club will be held without spectators. The club president Faruk Koja is disqualified for life.

According to the Ministry of Tourism of Northern Cyprus, more than 44 thousand Russian citizens visited the island in the last 11 months of 2023, which is 33% more than in 2022. The Russians are followed by Iranians with 35.7 thousand people, Germans with 25.6 thousand people, British with 21.2 thousand people, Kazakhs with 14.4 thousand people and Ukrainians with 8.3 thousand people. The total number of foreigners coming to Northern Cyprus in 2023 amounted to 1.5 million.

International real estate company Cushman Wakefield has published the report "World's Main Streets 2023", dedicated to rental rates for real estate in prime areas around the world. The report includes many street names from New York to Vietnam, Argentina to Milan. Istanbul's famous street ranked first on the Worldwide Main Streets Report's list for rental growth rates. Compared to last year, Istiklal Street rose from 31st to 20th place in the ranking, showing an annual rent growth rate of 127%, outpacing the rent growth rates of other major shopping streets in the world.

Real estate investment expert Mustafa Hakan Ozelmacıklı named the time when housing sales, which have recently declined, will begin to grow again. He cited rising global inflation and rising interest rates as reasons for the decline in sales. Mustafa Hakan Ozelmacıklı said home sales will rise again in the second quarter of 2024 due to the expectation of lower inflation and lower interest rates on deposits.

According to a decision published in the Official Gazette of Turkey, the euro exchange rate in the pricing of medicines has been updated. The calculated euro exchange rate applied in pricing of medicines has been increased by 25% from 14 liras to 17.55 liras. Accordingly, the prices of all medicines will be increased by 25%.The decision will enter into force from December 25, 2023.