Everybody loves to go somewhere…
Sometimes we go away for a vacation, or we go and do some sports, and sometimes we go just to relax. In our vision the idea of ‘going’ somewhere is that everybody focuses on the locations to go.
When we conducted the feasibility studies for our operations in four counties, we always took into consideration the idea of living in a house you adore, working at an office you enjoy, and being in the place you love. The idea of having a perfect holiday in a location you love has guided our hotel investments. We set off to do unique works in beautiful destinations for those visiting our country or going outside of Turkey.
After our first boutique hotel Antmare, located in Port Alaçatı, we opened our 200-room Radisson Blu hotel in Istanbul, Fraser Anthill with 120 residences, which is the first service apartment concept in Turkey, and Fraser Antasya with 80 residences in cooperation with the Singapore-based company Fraser Hospitality. We completed our Antwell project as a serviced apartment with 150 residences last year. The most important feature of this project is that it has a dedicated center with health and wellness personnel and is referred to as a health residence.
This month we launched a different tourism investment in a quite different location. We opened the doors of the Radisson Collection Hotel Bodrum, breaking new ground in Turkey, within the Anthaven complex, which has canal houses, boat ports, a bazaar, a hotel, and a beach in Bodrum’s Aspat Bay. Our hotel is the first for the Radisson Collection in Turkey, and we celebrated the opening with the Ant Yapı team and friends, our guests from abroad, and members of the press. You can see the photos of the opening on the following pages of our magazine.
As far as Turkey is concerned, it ranked as the 6th tourism destination in the world, with the number of tourists exceeding 50 million, prior to the pandemic. Although the pandemic has slowed the pace of the tourism industry, it has now become controllable thanks to the measures taken and the increase in the number of vaccinations. It is likely Turkey will achieve the same performance next year.
Our tourism investments have always been regarded as different and niche businesses, and we have described these investments as the “apple of our eyes”. We have another “apple of our eye”, which you will find on the following pages, it is the Ant Yapı UK Office. Our UK office is a result of our vision of investing in places other than Turkey and our dream of being in the best geographical regions.
I hope you will see our successes and share in our happiness while you enjoy reading this month’s magazine. On this occasion, we wish you a healthy, happy, and peaceful Feast of Sacrifice.
MEHMET OKAY
Board Member