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along Turkey's Aegean coastline. The blazes broke out in four regions. There was one big inferno near beach resort Bodrum and another on the outskirts of Izmir. Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said on August 20 a fire in Karabaglar, a district of Izmir, had already destroyed more than 1,200 ares of woodland. Emergency crews in Turkey have had to battle more than 25 wildfires that have broken out on the mainland.
Turkey’s healthcare tourism industry is aiming to annually provide services to at least 1.5mn international patients by 2023, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said. Last year more than 500,000 foreign nationals received treatment at Turkish hospitals and this year the figure will be the same, according to Koca. Particular focus is to be give to the Russian, Ukrainian and Azerbaijani markets as well as markets of Middle Eastern countries such as Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Koca said, adding that Germany, the UK and Belgium would also be on the radar. Last year, 67% of international patients received treatment at Turkish private hospitals, while 27% were treated at public hospitals, according to the minister. On a related note, the head of the Turkish Travel Agencies’ Association (TURSAB) said that each international patient visiting Turkey last year on average spent some $2,013 versus $6,000 globally. “Total revenue of the local health tourism industry was around $2bn in 2018,” Firuz Baglikaya said, adding that the size of the global health tourism industry is $100bn. The health tourism revenue of Turkey is expected to hit $10bn in 2023, according to Baglikaya. Turkey is ranked fifth in the world in terms of the number of international patients hosted, after the US, Germany, Thailand and India.
Each year, around two and a half million tourists travel between Turkey and Iran, mainly by plane.
Turkey’s domestic tourism activity slows in Q1. A total of 10.9mn residents of Turkey took domestic trips in the first quarter of 2019, marking a 9% y/y decline, data from statistics office TUIK showed on August 6. The number of domestic trips with one or more than one overnight stay also dropped 9% on an annual basis to 14.1mn in the first three months of the year. Total domestic expenditures of locals amounted to TRY6.98bn, recording a 10.8% y/y increase. However, considering the annual inflation rate, real spending in fact declined in the quarter from a year earlier. TUIK also reported that average expenditure per trip was TRY496 (around $89). The early months of the year are not traditionally seen as including a holiday season in Turkey; however, the decline in the number of trips made domestically suggests that people were acting cautiously as they were not sure of economic prospects for the months to come with Turkey by then mired in recession. Indeed, in the first quarter, the Turkish economy contracted 2.6% y/y with the annual inflation rate hovering around 20%.
9.1.7 Utilities sector news
Turkey’s installed electricity production capacity increased by 3.6% on an annual basis in July to reach 90,449 MW, which helped the country meet more of its demand through local resources and reduce the energy import bill. The share of local resources in electricity generation showed a 29.4% rise in the first seven months of the year to 116.8mn MW. Turkey’s electricity imports in the same period declined by 23.4% to 1,153 GWh while the share of imported resources in electricity production fell 15.4% y/y. As the dependency on imported electricity and foreign resources declined, the country saved as much as $1.4bn in January-July. The share of local renewable sources in total power generation increased by 44.7% y/y compared to the same period of last year to 87mn MW. Turkey used less imported natural gas and coal to generate power, saving $1.3bn and $103mn, respectively. Meanwhile, the country’s electricity exports rose by 22% on an annual basis to hit 1,795 GWh.
Turkey ‘has started filling dam’ that will displace thousands and threaten Iraq with water shortages. Satellite images reportedly showed that water was
73 TURKEY Country Report September 2019 www.intellinews.com