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(...) Turkey's tourism strategy is aligned with that of the EU, which provides for a sustainable and competitive tourist sector. Turkey aims to better leverage the natural, cultural, historical, and geographical assets of the country in order to increase tourism.

Turkey's vision for the tourism industry is: "With the adoption of the sustainable tourism approach, the tourism and travel industry will be brought to a leading position for leveraging rates of employment and regional development, and it will be ensured that Turkey becomes a world brand in tourism and a major destination in the list of the top five countries receiving the highest number of tourists and the highest tourism revenues by 2023." (...)

Table 4.35 Overview of Turkey's tourism strategy
Subsector - Strategy
Planning - To exhibit a planning approach that supports economic growth, is physically applicable and socially oriented and fairly reflects the principle of sustainable tourism
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City branding - Manage branding of cities rich in cultural and natural heritage
Tourism diversification - To develop means for alternative tourism types led particularly by health, thermal, winter, golf, sea tourism, ecotourism and plateau tourism, conference and expo tourism activities
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Tourism development corridors - To develop a certain route for tourism on definite themes, by rehabilitating historical and natural texture
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Ecotourism zones - To develop nature tourism with reference to development plans

Pursuant to Turkey's Tourism Diversification Sub-strategy, it is promoting and giving priority to a number of alternative types of tourism to expand the tourist season and achieve a better utilization of tourist infrastructure. Health and thermal, winter, golf, sea, ecotourism, congress and expo tourism have been targeted.

Turkey's main tourism law, the Law for the Encouragement of Tourism, dates from 1982 and has not undergone amendments during the review period. The law aims to provide the necessary measures for the regulation and development of the sector including giving the sector a dynamic structure and mode of operation. It provides for the preservation and utilization of natural tourism resources, incentives, a tourism development fund, yacht operations, regulations, etc. (...)

Turkey has laws on the related areas of conserving natural and cultural heritage, national parks, theatres, etc. The Law for the Preservation of Cultural and Natural Assets, the Law for Renovation and Restitution of Deteriorated Historical and Cultural Immovables, and the Law for the Approval of European Declaration on Protection of Archaeological Heritage are important for preserving Turkey's heritage and promoting this subsector of the tourism industry.

Turkey provides a number of incentives to industry (sections 2.4.4, 3.3.1.3, and 3.3.2), but there are also specific programmes designed to benefit the tourism sector. Turkey's main investment incentive schemes (section 2.4.4.1), i.e. general, regional, priority, and strategic, all provide incentives for the tourism sector, as well as the programmes for SMEs (section 3.3.1.3). Specific tourism incentive programmes include the Law for the Encouragement of Tourism, Cultural Investments Incentive Law, Law on the Protection of Cultural Values and Natural Resources, and the Translation and Publication Grant Programme of Turkey. (...)

Table A2.1 Turkey's Involvement in Dispute Settlement Cases, 1 January 2012 1 December 2015
Subject Respondent/ complainant/ appellant Request for consultation received Status (as at 30 October 2014) WTO document series
Panels
European Union – Anti-Dumping Measures on Biodiesel from Indonesia EU/Indonesia 17-June-14 Panel composed, interim report pending WT/DS/480
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European Union – Anti-Dumping Measures on Biodiesel from Argentina EU/Argentina 19-Dec-13 Panel composed, interim report pending WT/DS473
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India – Certain Measures Relating to Solar Cells and Solar Modules India/U.S. 6-Feb-13 Panel composed, interim report issued, final report issued to parties, translation pending WT/DS456
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Table A3.5 Communiqués on Product Safety and Inspection, 2015
Communiqué Overview
2015/1 Industrial products within the scope of some Turkish Standards, which are at the same time mandated in the domestic market, are subject to inspection by the Turkish Standards Institution (TSE). The inspections are carried out in respect of minimum health, safety and protection of environment standards, to provide adequate information to the consumers.
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2015/3 This Communiqué includes wastes whose import is controlled (Annex-I) or prohibited (Annex-II) in accordance with the European Waste Catalogue and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. According to this Communiqué, import of wastes in its Annex-I are subject to physical control carried out by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization. Following the conformity assessment procedure, the conformity document, which is required to be submitted to the customs authorities during importation, is issued by the aforementioned Ministry.
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2015/6 This Communiqué covers importation of chemical products which are listed in its Annex-I. The import of all except one of these products is banned. On the other hand, in order to import the product with 2903.71.00.00.00 customs tariff statistics position, the importer must obtain a Control Certificate issued by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization. The documents required to obtain the Control Certificate are stated in the Communiqué, such as pro forma invoice, certificate of analyses, the label of the product etc. The Control Certificate should be submitted to the customs authorities during the import stage. Annex-II of this Communiqué comprises the hazardous chemicals whose import is prohibited.
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2015/12 This Communiqué covers importation of some consumer products that are listed in its Annex-I and subject to conformity assessment with regard to protection of human health, human life and property, environment and consumers. Methods and principles regarding import controls are designated by the Ministry of Customs and Trade.
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2015/23 For the importation of scrap metals listed in the Annex I of this Communiqué, the importer shall receive a Metal Scrap Importer Document issued by the Ministry of the Environment and Urbanization. The Metal Scrap Importer Document is only given to those firms who are licensed by the Ministry in question and have scrap melting facilities. As per the Communiqué, import of the metal scraps shall be done only at border customs authorities with a radiation detection system installed. Annex II of this Communiqué comprises the dangerous scraps whose import is prohibited.
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The government introduced a green tax of US$6 per bed-night from each arriving tourist, staying in tourist establishments, excluding guest houses. The Green tax collection was commenced from 1 November 2015, and is meant to be utilized for environmental protection, conservation and waste management.