Turkish PM announces tourism policies and targets of govt

ISTANBUL (AA) – Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that the priority of 2010 tourism vision was to protect cultural heritage and to bring more cultural diversity and richness of Turkey to the front.

Erdogan and Culture and Tourism Minister Erkan Mumcu held a joint press conference and announced 2010 tourism vision of Turkey and the government’s tourism policies and targets.

Noting that they did not see tourism only as an economic concept, Erdogan said that basis of their tourism vision was to show Turkey, its culture and people within its own nature, reality and beauty, thus their tourism approach was focused on environment. He added that their priority of 2010 tourism vision was to protect cultural heritage and to bring cultural diversity and richness of Turkey to front.

Erdogan said that they aimed to form necessary organized infrastructure to fulfill this priority by uniting culture and tourism ministries so that in the coming period the dynamism of tourism economy would be united with cultural environment sensitivity.

Noting that the income of museums and ruins would not be spent for areas which were not related with the protection of cultural heritage, Erdogan said that those incomes would be reserved directly for those works of art.

Erdogan said that revolving fund was turned into an institution which could reserve source more than 50 million dollars annually for cultural heritage.