Spain’s Barceló Hotel Group announced plans to invest around 100 million euros ($112m) in Turkey over the next five years to have up to 20 new hotels in the country.
The group held a press meeting on May 3 for the official opening of its five-star Barceló Hotel Istanbul in Taksim district which is very popular among local and foreign tourists.
“We have invested 7 million euros in the hotel which started accepting guests five months ago. So far, we have hosted guests from 116 countries and the hotel’s occupancy rate currently stands at 80 percent” said Hasan Ekmen, the General Manager of Barceló Hotel Group Turkey.
He noted that Barceló has been operating in Turkey for 20 years and has invested 60 million euros in the county to date. “We believe in Turkey. That is why we plan to undertake investments worth 100 million euros over the next five years,” Ekmen said.
Barceló Group, which currently operates three hotels in Turkey, will particularly focus on Istanbul, Antalya on the Mediterranean coast, Izmir on the Aegean coast, the capital Ankara and Cappadocia, according to the company executive.
Barceló is the world’s 29th largest hotel chain, operating 251 hotels in 25 countries. Turkey welcomed 5.44 million foreign visitors in the January-March period, according to the latest data from the Culture and Tourism Ministry.
In the first quarter of 2019, the number of foreign visitors rose by 6.12 percent on a yearly basis.