Tourism in Istanbul is mostly based on historical sites, sea resorts along its Mediterranean

coasts. Turkey is a popular destination of healthcare, spa and its old culture. Istanbul attracts
tourists for its rich history, art and architecture, cultural heritage and and local life.

LIVING HISTORY

Istanbul's strategic location has attracted many marauding armies over the centuries. The
Greeks, Romans and Venetians took turns ruling before the Ottomans stormed into town and
decided to stay – physical reminders of their various tenures are found across the city. Many
merchants who came here liked it so much that they, too, decided to stay. In so doing, they gave
the city a cultural diversity that it retains to this day.

ART & ARCHITECTURE

In their homeland in Central Asia, turks lived in dome-like tents appropriate to their natural
surroundings, and they were nomads. These tents later influenced Turkish architecture and
ornamental arts.
By the 1970's, restoration work on old buildings notable for their architecture had been carried
out to convert them into hotels and restaurants for public use. Also during this period there was a
return to classical Turkish architectural styles, blended with contemporary techniques in search
of new syntheses.

LOCAL LIFE

Chief among its manifold attractions are the locals, who have an infectious love of life and
generosity of spirit. oining them in their favourite haunts – çay bahçesis (tea
gardens), kahvehans (coffeehouses), meyhanes (Turkish taverns) and kebapçıs (kebap
restaurants) – will be a highlight of your visit.
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN ISTANBUL

GALATA TOWER
At 67 meters (219 feet) high, the Galata Tower rules over the Istanbul skyline, offering great
views of the old city and its surroundings. The medieval stone tower, known as the Tower of
Christ, was the tallest building in Istanbul when it was built in 1348.

ISTANBUL ARCHEAOLOGICAL MUSEUM

One of the most important museums in Turkey, the Istanbul Archaeological Museum is actually
three museums: the Archaeological Museum, the Ancient Orient Museum and the Tiled Kiosk
Museum.

CHORA CHURCH
The Chora Church may be a little bit off the beaten tourist path, but visitors say the beautiful
Byzantine art is well worth the effort to get there. Magnificent mosaics and frescoes depict the life
of Jesus and his mother, Mary. Known as the Church of the Holy Savior in Chora, it has been
described as one of the most beautiful surviving works of Byzantine architecture.

GRAND BAZAAR
With 5,000 shops making it one of the largest indoor marketplaces in the world. Receiving more
than a quarter-million visitors a day, the bazaar features such items as jewelry, carpets that may
or may not fly, spices, antiques and hand-painted ceramics.
HAGIA SOPHIA
The Hagia Sophia was once a house of worship that served several religions well over the
centuries. It started out as a Greek Eastern Orthodox basilica that was home to the Patriarch of
Constantinople when it was built in 537. For almost six decades in the 12th century it was a
Roman Catholic church.

MAP OF LOCATION OF HOTELS ACROSS ISTANBUL

GOVERNMENT POLICIES
he AKP government has been promoting "halal tourism" ("Islamic tourism") for years,politically
reaffirming this stance over the course of 2016. Turkey's main opposition secular CHP party
opposes the trend of gender segregated beaches and hotels as an attempt to make the country
more Islamic and create "little prisons" for women.
In March 2017, a Turkish court banned global travel fare aggregator website Booking.com from
offering services to Turkish tourists for lack of a national licence, while the Hoteliers Association
of Turkey campaigns for a lifting the ban of the enterprise on which its members relied for up to
90 percent of their turnover.
In April 2017, the police department of the prime resort city of Antalya issued a directive banning
the consumption of alcohol outside of buildings.
Some popular websites including Wikipedia are blocked in Turkey.
SAFETY ISSUES
Turkey, which welcomes some 4.5 million Russian tourists each year, has faced a 30 percent
drop in visitors from there as a result of the economic downturn that followed the sanctions in
Russia.
Civil wars in neighboring countries, such as Iraq and Syria, have also contributed to the
dwindling number of tourists in Turkey. Operations of Turkish security forces against the PKK
and the “Islamic State” caused growing concerns regarding eastern Turkey, along with the resort
towns on the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts.
After the deadly attack in Suruc, nine countries - including Germany and Russia - have issued
travel advisories to their citizens, discouraging travel to the border regions of Turkey. Another
seven countries - New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Britain, Poland, Ireland and Canada - have
encouraged their citizens to avoid eastern Turkish cities. Some have also advised their citizens
to be cautious when using public transportation in major metropolitan areas of the country

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Turkey hosts more than three thousand endemic plant species, has high diversity of other taxa,
and is almost entirely covered by three of the world's thirty-five biodiversity hotspots."Yet,
Turkey's environmental laws and conservation efforts are eroding, not improving. This has
precipitated a conservation crisis that has accelerated over the past decade. This crisis has been
exacerbated by legislative developments that may leave Turkey with a nature conservation, legal
framework that is weakened, and severely out of line with globally accepted principles".The main
environmental issues in Turkey are the conservation of biodiversity, air pollution, water pollution,
greenhouse gases, and land degradation.

A major issue degrading Istanbul’s livability is definitely the city’s traffic and its partner in crime,
car-oriented urban planning. TomTom’s annual Traffic Index identifies Istanbul as the worst
congested city in the world.
Ongoing clashes in Syria have led to the fact that more than 1.6 million Syrian refugees have
sought refuge in neighboring Turkey.

Sheltering of Syrian refugees has already cost Ankara $5.5 billion, according to the Office for the
Prevention and Elimination of Consequences of Emergency (AFAD) of Turkey. Over half a
million Syrian's have fled the war in their country. Turkey houses the majority in camps that have
become home to approximately 300,000 Syrians. Istanbul alone has taken in 40,000 refugees
from Syria with the rest scattered among the other Turkish provinces.

CONCLUSION
At its height in 2014, Turkey attracted around 42 million foreign tourists, ranking as the 6th most
popular tourist destination in the world. This number however declined to around 36 million in
2015, deteriorated to around 25 million in 2016 and still further in 2017.