TIF 2024, a B2B platform recognized as a key reference point for global tourism investments in Turkey, offering networking opportunities along with business and financial prospects. It will be held on November 26-27, 2024, in Istanbul, under the strategic partnership of the Investment Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), in collaboration with Questex.
TIF 2024 will bring together international investors, financial institutions, banks, funds, global hotel brands, international thought leaders in tourism, technology innovators, and real estate development firms to explore investment opportunities in Turkey.
Vice President of Eastern Europe, Public Sector Mastercard
Program
November 26, 2024 First Day
08.00-08.55
Registration & Networking
09:10- 09:25
Opening Remarks
Oya Narin, President | TTYD
09:30-10:30
Welcoming Remarks
Kaan Gür Board Member and General Manager Akbank
Ahmet Bolat Chairman of the Board THY
İbrahim Ömer Gönül Chairman Capital Markets Board of Türkiye
Ahmet Burak Dağlıoğlu President Investment Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye
10:35– 10:50
Future Strategies for Travel and Tourism
Julia Simpson President WTTC
10:55-11:25
Economy and Future of Tourism and Travel
Moderator: Zafer Ali Yavan Founder & CEO Zay Strategy
Dominique Exmann Commercial Associate Director Oxford Economics
Abdullah Yüksel Vice President Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK)
11:30-11:40
Unlocking Strategic Opportunities in Tourism through Privatization
Bekir Emre Haykır President Privatization Administration of Turkiye
11:45-12:00
Turkey’s Booming Tourism – How to Take Your Space?
Hamdi Akın Chairman Akfen Holding
12:00-12:30
Lunch
12:35-12:50
Presentation: Hospitality Outlook 2024
Thomas Emmanuel Senior Director STR
12:55-13:35
Investor Priorities: Key Drivers in Tourism Investment
Diane Daudin Clavaud Corporate Director of Global Business Development Nobu Hotel Eryiğit Umur Chairman of Board & CEO Doğuş Hospitality & Retail Group
Saurabh Chawla Vice President Transactions Westmont Hospitality Group
13:40-13:55
State Of Travel & Tourism
Dariha Choudhry Associate Partner McKinsey
14:00-14:10
Keynote Speaker
Kemel Kharbachi Founder and Chairman EOS-X SPACESHIP
14:15-14:55
Luxury, Brands & Lifestyle: Transformation, Trends and Market Share
Moderator: Sahir Erozan Founding Partner Maça Kızı
Angelica Corsini Director Head of Business Development Arsenale Group
Julia Kleber CEO Kleber Group, Red Carpet Club
Jonathan Crook CEO Peninsula
Cevza Basman Member of Board Kavaklıdere Wines
15:00-15:40
Climate Resilience for Tourism: Finance Trends & Strategies
Moderator: Seçil Yıldız Executive Vice President TKYB Etkin Özen Senior Financial Sector Specialist The World Bank Mehmet Erdem Yaşar Deputy Head Turkiye, Corporates EBRD
Ahmet Can Yakar Project Finance Managing Director ICBC
B. Serkan Duruduygu Head of Investment Banking – Project Finance & Sustainable Finance Akbank
15:45-16:25
From Source to Destination: Ensuring Sustainability in Tourism
Moderator: Kıvılcım Pınar Kocabıyık President Yuvam Dünya
Almila Kından Cebbari CEO The Turkish Environmental Education Foundation (TÜRÇEV)
Tuncay Özses Manager Setur Marinas Kaş
Alp Aksoy Vice President Diversey
Özgür Uzunoğlu CFO Akfen Energy
16:30-17:10
From Local to Global: Prospects for Turkish Tourism Brands
Moderator: Naci Başerdem CEO The Marmara Hotels
Hediye Güral Gür Chairperson of the Board NG Hotels
17:15-17:55
Financing Hospitality Investments: Thinking out of the Box
Moderator: Sinan Temo CEO Bilgili Holding
Amin Ismail Managing Director Certares
Tassos Kotzanastassis CFA 8G Capital Partners
David Rico Director Hotels & Tourism Caixa Bank
Çağlar Yüncüler Economic Research and Market Strategies Vice President Akbank
18:00-18:40
Hotel Real Estate: Navigating Trends, Opportunities, Strategies and Challenges
Moderator: Ferzan Celikkanat, General Manager | ER Yatirim
Neşecan Çekici Chair Person of the Board GYODER
Bruno Hallé Boix Partner, Co-Head of Hospitality Spain Cushman & Wakefield
Onur Kurç Vice President of Development Türkiye Accor Ece Demirpence General Manager Akfen GYO
18:40-21:00
Istanbulian Street Food Festival
November 27, 2024 Second Day
08:00-08:55
Registration & Networking
09:00-09:10
Recap & Key insights, setting the Stage
09:15-09:55
Destination Marketing and Product Development Powering Investments
Moderator: Maribel Rodriguez Alessandra Priante President (SpA) ENIT Dr. Elif Balcı Fisunoğlu Vice General Manager TGA
Cemil Hakan Kılıç General Manager ICVB
Enrique Ybarra Founder & CEO City Sightseeing
10:00-10:15
New Tourism Ecosystems
10:20-11:00
Culture, Art & Entertainment: Turkish Perspective and How to Make Best Use
Moderator: Ali Güreli Founder & President Contemporary Istanbul Foundation
11:05-11:45
Trends Shaping Future Developments in the Hospitality Industry
Moderator: Joe Stather Vice President Market Leader – Operational Real Estate Questex Jean-Baptiste Recher Regional Vice President Development Luxury Brands MEAT Accor Hotels David Kelly Senior Vice President Continental Europe Hilton Worldwide
Jerome Briet Chief Development Officer, EMEA Marriott International
11:50-12:30
Money Talks: Where do International Investors Look for Return?
Moderator: Simon Allison President Hoftel Javier Arus Managing Partner Azora
Amir Golbarg Senior Vice President MEA&India MINOR Hotels
Tatiana Veller Managing Director Stirling Hospitality Advisors
12:35-13:05
Trends Shaping Future Developments in the Hospitality Industry
Moderator: Joe Stather Vice President Market Leader – Operational Real Estate Questex Dimitris Manikis President EMEA Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
Willemijn Geels VP Development IHG
13:05-13:45
Lunch
13:50-14:30
Mature Markets, Emerging Travel Trends
Mehmet T. Nane Chairperson Pegasus Airlines Franck Mereyde CEC & EBD TAV Airports Dave Dorner CEO Celebi Group Yıldıray Karaer Chairman of Board Corendon Group
14:35-15:15
Design Process: Path to Project Success
Moderator: Fatih Tokatlı Deputy General Manager Indigo Group
Tom Dixon Architect Tom Dixon Design Ahmet Haldun Kilit Chairman of the Board Interior Architect Andrew Linwood Head of Hospitality & Business Development Areen Design
15:20-16:00
Harnessing the Potential of Health Tourism: Investing in Wellness, Medical, Therapeutic Travel
Moderator: Banu Küçükel President Guven Health Group Dr. Mehmet Altuğ Chairman of the Board of Trustees Lokman Hekim University
Prof. Dr. Orhan Gazi Yiğitbaşı, Medical Director Medipol University Hospital Reşat Bahat President The Private Hospitals and Healthcare Institutions Association
Ömer Tosun Chairman INDIGO Group
16:00-16:20
Coffee Break
16:25-17:05
Brands, Hospitality Management and Contracts: Evolving Solutions
Moderator: Ömer Erdoğan Partner Gen Temizer Law
Bilge Turcan Partner Petra Hospitality Management Haluk Özdoğan Founder & President Access Hospitality
Begüm Kaya Senior Development Director Marriott Mine Sakmar Managing Partner Sakmar Law Office
17:10-17:50
Digital & Tourism: Mastering Travel &Tourism Data
Moderator: Ussal Şahbaz Managing Partner Ussal Consultancy Engin Yaşar Vice President of Eastern Europe, Public Sector Mastercard Selen Özkan Head of CPG UBER
17:55-18:15
Closing Remarks
Gallery
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Adress
Nispetiye Cad. Aydın Sok. Aydın İş Merkezi K:2 D:6, Levent, Beşiktaş, İstanbul
A.Burak Dağlıoğlu, President of the Investment Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye
Burak Dağlıoğlu is President of the Investment Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye, a position he took up in February 2020. Prior to his appointment as President of the Investment Office, Mr. Dağlıoğlu held a number of posts within the Office; from 2010 to 2015, he worked as Project Director in charge of investment projects from the Gulf Countries, India, Japan, and USA. From 2015 to 2020, Mr. Dağlıoğlu served as the Vice President of the Investment Office in charge of overseas promotion and lead generation activities. In November 2020, he was appointed Member of the Board of Türkiye Wealth Funds.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Dağlıoğlu worked in the private sector in consulting industry at various positions. Mr. Dağlıoğlu holds a BA in Economics from Boğaziçi University and MA degree in “Global Master in Finance” from IE Business School.
Julia Simpson is President and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council. She spent 14 years in the aviation sector on the Board of British Airways and Iberia and as Chief of Staff at International Airlines Group. Before joining British Airways, Julia was senior adviser to the UK Prime Minister. She has held a number of key positions in the UK government and public sector, including Director at the Home Office and Department for Education and Employment; Assistant Chief Executive at the London Borough of Camden; and head of communications at the Communication Workers Union. Julia is currently on the Board of the London Chamber of Commerce. Julia believes in the power of travel to transform lives, grow economies, and protect the planet and its people.
Expertise: Policy Simulation, Political Risk Analysis, Government Relations, Crises Management, Civil Society, European Affairs, Macro-econometrics.
Zafer A. Yavan, before having founded ZAY Strateji Public Affairs Consultancy in 2017, served as the secretary general and the board member of TÜSİAD, and as the Capital (Ankara) representative of TÜSİAD in 2009-2016 and 2000-2008 respectively. Before, he has served in the State Planning Organization, Prime Ministry of Turkey, as an economist, department head and director for 14 years in various parts of the institution.
Both at TÜSİAD and in government he took major responsibilities at various junctures of Turkey’s economic and political development; among those, 1989 financial sector liberalization, 1994 Financial Crises, 1999-2000 and 2001 macro adjustment programs, 2001 and 2004 EU-TR membership negotiations, 2007 Turkey’s Constitutional Reform and numerous negotiations throughout 2000’s between the government and the business organizations.
Yavan, throughout his career, developed strengths in transforming his mathematical, statistical and econometric infrastructure into the political and economic risk analysis. Yavan has extensive experience and expertise on negotiation and crisis management. Yavan, also taught Forecasting and Open Economy Macroeconomics at METU and Ankara University respectively for some 10 years.
Yavan is the author of various academic studies on macroeconomics, econometrics, time series forecasting and social policy fields.
Yavan studied, economics, statistics, operational research and received bachelor’s degree from Middle East Technical University (METU) Ankara, Master of Science degree from Salford University, Manchester UK and completed various macro modelling certificate programs at UPENN, USA.
Dominique Exmann is an expert in travel, tourism, and technology, with over 20 years of experience driving growth and innovation in global markets. She leads the commercial focus for Oxford Economics’ work in tourism forecasting and economic impact analysis as Commercial Director, Tourism Economics MENA. The team forecasts global leisure and business tourism flows for 185 countries and over 300 cities, based on economic drivers and in reaction to major geopolitical events as well as the positive impacts of major sporting or business events. Recent reports and custom analysis has focussed on the importance of tourism growth in recovery and the evolution of tourism demand within wider economic activity.
Mr. YÜKSEL was born in Seydişehir in 1981. After graduating from Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering in 2005, he started working as an engineer at the General Directorate of Construction Works.
He started working as an Assistant Expert at the Turkish Statistical Institute in 2006 and received the title of TURKSTAT Expert in 2009. He has participated in various seminars, workshops and training programs in the field of official statistics at home and abroad. YUKSEL, who speaks fluent English, is married and has two children.
Abdullah YÜKSEL, who served as Head of Producer Prices Group between 2015-2017 and Head of Short-Term Business Statistics Department between 2018-2021. He has been serving as the Vice President of the Turkish Statistical Institute since August 5, 2021.
Hamdi Akın was born in 1954. He graduated from Gazi University, Department of Mechanical Engineering. In 1976 he founded Akfen Holding, whose main activity area is to invest in, manage and coordinate partnerships and subsidiaries active in infrastructure and superstructure construction, port management, marine transportation, water distribution and waste water services, energy and real estate sectors. In addition to serving as the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Akfen Holding, he is also the Chairman of Board at Akfen Renewable Energy (Akfen Yenilenebilir Enerji A.Ş.) and Akfen REIT (Akfen Gayrimenkul Yatırım Ortaklığı A.Ş.), adn Member of the Board MIP (Mersin International Port). In 1997, he founded the TAV brand to build and operate Turkey’s first high capacity airport in the aviation sector, one of the hardest sectors of the world, and he managed the company as Chairman of Board until 2017.
In addition to his private entrepreneurship, Mr. Akın realized projects in infrastructure, energy and investment in scope of privatization efforts. He also carried his dynamism and hard work in business to volunteer efforts and non-governmental organizations as a Manager and founder of many societies, foundations, chambers of commerce. He has served as Vice President of Fenerbahçe Sports Club (2000-2002), MESS-Metal Industrialists’ Union President of Ankara Regional Representatives Council (1992-2004), President of TÜGİAD-Turkish Young Businessmen’s Association(1998-2000), Board Member of TİSK-Turkish Confederation of Employers’ Associations (1995-2001), Board Member of TÜSİAD-Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association President of Information Society and New Technologies Commission (2008-2009) and Board Member of Clean Seas Association/TURMEPA (2011-2018).
Hamdi Akın is a founder of the Contemporary Turkey Studies Chair at the London School of Economics. He is also the Founding Member and Honorary President of the Turkey Human Resources Foundation (TİKAV), founded in 1999 to provide Turkey with well-trained human resources. He is also member of the Board of Trustess at Support and Education Foundation for Basketball and Board Member of Bodrum Promotion Foundation (BOTAV).
Additionally, Hamdi Akın serves as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Fenerbahçe Sports Club and the Honorary Consul of Hungary, responsible for the provinces of Muğla and Denizli.
Thomas Emanuel is a Senior Director at STR, a CoStar Group Company. He is based in London, and leads a team focused on driving business with Industry Partners. He has spent his entire career in the hotel industry, beginning in 2000 with Miki Travel, before joining Hyatt Hotel & Resorts, where he gained experience in corporate sales at both the worldwide sales office and at property level. Thomas then led the corporate sales function for Hazlitt’s Hotels, a group of independent boutique hotels in London. In 2006, Thomas joined the Deloitte HotelBenchmark team, where he was responsible for creating and leading the department’s business development function. He held this role until the formation of STR in March 2008, and has since focused on overseeing STR’s rapid expansion outside North America. Throughout his time with STR, Thomas has gained a wealth of experience working with hotels, investors, developers, consultants, banks, governments, destination management companies and many others. Thomas has been a guest lecturer at Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, and been invited and participated in the OECD’s high level meetings on tourism policies. Travelling extensively, Thomas has worked in over 45 countries across 6 continents and regularly speaks at major hospitality conferences around the world. He is also frequently interviewed for his insights on the hotel industry by news outlets including CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, as well as various tourism and hospitality publications.
Diane Daudin Clavaud
Corporate Director of Global Business Development Nobu Hotel
Diane’s rich professional background traverses diverse industries, encompassing Luxury & Hospitality, Arts, Media & Entertainment, and Corporate Social Responsibility.
She has collaborated with startups, SMEs, governmental cabinets, family offices, consulting firms, and esteemed international companies like Rosewood Hotels & Resorts and Nobu Hospitality.
Notably, her journey in the hospitality sector began with her role as Director of Communications and Marketing at these renowned establishments. Little did she anticipate that these initial steps would pave the way for her eventual ascent into hospitality management two decades later!
Since 2021, Diane has rejoined Nobu Hospitality as their Corporate Director of Global Business Development, a role that sees her operating on a worldwide scale. Nobu Hospitality, a premier approachable luxury lifestyle brand owned by Robert De Niro and Chef Nobu, boasts a presence on six continents, with over 50 restaurants, 43 hotels, and 13 branded residences globally.
Saurabh has recently joined Westmont to manage the full spectrum of hotel real estate transaction, from sourcing off-market and distress deals, to closing all transactions.
Prior to joining Westmont, Saurabh was the C.E.O for Selina’s Real Estate entity (NASDAQ: SLNA), responsible for creating distinguished value in the Real Estate value chain. From sourcing distressed, underperforming assets, converting them to the Selina product in an efficient and cost-effective way, and asset managing the asset throughout its life cycle.
He joined Selina after his tenure at Groupe du Louvre (a Jin Jiang subsidiary) where he was the Chief Development Officer, overseeing the group’s ambitious development and M&A strategy globally. During his role at Groupe du Louvre, Saurabh led numerous acquisitions, mergers, strategic partnerships, and thus was able to derive significant growth (and EBITDA) each year for the group.
Saurabh was also a partner with HVS’s London office, where he asset-managed and advised numerous owners/funds on maximizing their investments in hotels.
Saurabh brings with him over 18 years of extensive hospitality investment experience.
Sahir Erozan is the founding partner of Macakizi Hotel located in Bodrum, Turkey. He has been in the hospitality business in the United States and Turkey since 1983. Also, he established Villa Macakizi during the summer of 2018.
Starting his education in Istanbul, Mr. Erozan majored in mathematical engineering and international business, while continuing his studies in Washington, D.C, he began his first business in the heart of Georgetown, Café Med. Later in the 1980s, Mr. Erozan opened Cities Restaurant in Adams Morgan neighborhood of D.C.
Living in the United States’ capital city for close to thirty years, Mr. Erozan was naturally drawn to politics. He has worked at five presidential campaigns as well as numerous congressional races.
Sahir Erozan was a Board Member of the American-Turkish Council for over 20 years. He was also instrumental in raising more than five hundred thousand dollars in private contributions for the victims of the 1999 earthquake in Turkey.
He served on the Host Committee for NATO’s 50th Anniversary celebration held in Washington, D.C. He was on the civilian advisory committee for the Prague NATO Summit. Mr. Erozan has hosted numerous presidential, congressional and other dignitaries throughout the years during their visits to Turkey in addition to hosting Turkish delegation including Prime Ministers and Parliamentarians, while he was in Washington.
Recently, Mr. Erozan has focused his energy and time in the broad promotion of Turkish tourism. To that end, he has hosted events in Washington, New York, London and Paris as well as three large events during Venice Biennale for Art and Architecture and Art Basel Miami. This year, started a festival in Bodrum -MedBodrum- hoping to make an international date for the early summer in Bodrum.