Business

Turkey’s first “Luxury Sleeper Train Tour” starts with an investment of $40 million

Turkey’s first “Luxury Sleeper Train Tour” project, which will start with the Cappadocia Express, was signed between HIS Turkey, whose global head office is in Japan, and Sun Group, through the Presidential Investment Office.

Presidency Investment Office President Ahmet Burak Daglioglu, Sun Group Chairman Abdulkerim Murat Atik and HIS Turkey General Manager H. Emre Ozkur attended the protocol ceremony.

Giving information about the cooperation, President of the Presidency Investment Office Ahmet Burak Daglioglu stated that they have been working for a long time for the cooperation between HIS and Japan-Turkey, and said that one of the issues they have been working on is the transportation of tourists in Turkey by train.

Daglioglu stated that, as the Investment Office, they brought together HIS Turkey and Sun Group in order to bring this issue to life, and that 2 companies will come together to realize the business of providing touristic services by railways.

“We aim to contribute approximately €1 billion to Turkey’s economy”

HIS Turkey General Manager H. Emre Ozkur, stating that the project is a dream project for them, said that the Investment Office plays a very key role here.

Pointing out that HIS Global is one of the top 10 travel operators in the world with its head office in Japan and more than 500 offices in more than 70 countries, Ozkur explained that with the HIS Travel brand, which has been serving in Turkey for 16 years, they are now among the top 5 companies in the business travel industry.

Drawing attention to the importance of the project in terms of tourism, Ozkur said:

“Especially the start of this project of our company in Turkey will allow more Japanese tourists to come to Turkey from now on. The Cappadocia Express will provide transportation by train. Especially there is a lot of demand for train transportation in the world, serious investments are made here.

With the train journey, we will include many more cities in this transportation in a much wider framework. Our country has many beautiful places, the beginning of the project is Cappadocia, but then we will extend it to Eastern Anatolia-Southeastern Anatolia and the Black Sea. The journey will start between Istanbul and Cappadocia in the first place, and then we plan it as a tourism railway line covering the country. The initial investment of the project is €40 million, and our goal is to reach 200,000 tourists annually.”

Stating that the guests who travel by train are mostly tourists who are over the retirement age, Ozkur explained that they aim to contribute approximately €1 billion to Turkey’s economy with a tourism income of €5 thousand per person within the scope of the project.

Ozkur stated that the opening of the Cappadocia Express will bring a new dynamic to domestic tourism, new employment areas will be opened, and the sleeper train project between Cappadocia and Istanbul will make a great contribution to the tourism of the country, and added saying, “It is necessary to think of the Cappadocia Express as two 5-star hotels, there will be mutual voyages. This year, it will be operational until the end of the year.”

Stating that the environment of trust is one of the most important issues for them as a Japanese investor, Ozkur said, “We give seminars to companies that want to invest abroad in Japan. Every seminar we do about Turkey is the seminars that attract the most participants.”

“We received Turkey’s first private passenger transport license from the Ministry of Transport on December 28, 2020”

Abdulkerim Murat Atik, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sun Group, stated that they started their commercial activities as the Group in 1993 and that they have carried out successful activities in Turkey’s various railway, high-speed train and urban rail system projects until today.

Noting that they have been working in the railway sector for 25 years in Turkey, Atik gave the following information:

“We obtained Turkey’s first private passenger transport license for railways from the Ministry of Transport on December 28, 2020. We started our activities in this field by obtaining the first Special Railway Train Operator Authorization Certificate in passenger transport. With the name of Cappadocia Cappadocia Express, together with the Japanese company HIS Global, we have started our studies for the operation of bed trains for tourism purposes with an investment of €40 million.

The vehicles we will use in this adventure, which we will start with this Cappadocia Express, will be in the form of 5-star hotels, all of them will consist of sleepers. There will be 5-star hotel standards in each compartment. With the investment in the first phase, 200-250 people will be employed. As the system is activated, the amount of investment and the number of employment will increase. The project will be the first in our country and we have developed a good product.”

Stating that the project will create an economy of €1 billion annually, Atik said, “We are confident in Turkey’s economy and the future of Turkey. That’s why we started such an investment.”

Source: AA / Translated by Irem Yildiz

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button