International tourism activities continue to be an important source of income for many countries. The positive externalities it creates, the positive role it plays in closing the current account deficit, its benefits such as increasing the level of employment, helping growth and regional development, increasing foreign capital and tax revenues are undoubtedly considered among the most important economic contributions of the tourism sector.

 In order to maintain or further increase the positive contributions expressed here, the tourism sector continues to be supported by direct and indirect incentives.

What are TOURISM INVESTMENT INCENTIVES?

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 13 of the Tourism Encouragement Law, incentives and support are provided to businesses operating in the tourism sector.

This issue is not known by many investors, or the fact that investors are not informed with the right sources causes the existing opportunities to be unavailable.

Tourism is also the subject of incentives;

1.  Supports Provided by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism
2.  Tourism Sector Emergency Action Plan Supports and Employment Supports for the Tourism Sector
3. Other Advantages Provided to Facilities with Tourism Operation Certificate

as announced by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The first of the incentives applied to tourism investments  is the allocation of investment location. Tourism facilities need huge investment areas. This situation negatively affects the feasibility of investments. For this reason, within the scope of the investment incentive certificate, it is possible to allocate an investment site by paying very low annual rents for 49 years.

• According to the 8th article of the Tourism Promotion Law, the treasury and forest lands are allocated for touristic facility investments.

With the “Decision on Electricity Support to Businesses with Environmentally Friendly Accommodation Facility Certificate” published in the Official Gazette dated 06/09/2013 and numbered 28757, Electricity Energy for Businesses with Environmentally Friendly Accommodation Facility Certificate in order to encourage and increase the number of Environmentally Friendly Accommodation Facilities. Support is provided.

Hotels and tourism sector investments are also supported by the Ministry of Economy, depending on their subject. The amount of incentive varies according to the region where the investment will be made. Our country is divided into 6 regions in terms of incentive legislation.

In addition, after the construction of the hotel is completed, all kinds of furniture, decorations, equipment and equipment related to general machinery and equipment and the furnishing of the hotel and rooms   can be obtained by benefiting from VAT exemption .

In addition to these, many investment-related equipment such as social facilities, pools, electrical equipment, decoration of common areas, elevators, electrical system can be obtained by taking advantage of VAT exemption. If there is equipment planned to be imported among these , there is also the opportunity to benefit from Customs Duty Exemption .

For example, the amount of incentive to be given to an entrepreneur who wants to invest in a hotel in Antalya varies depending on whether the investment is made before or after a certain date, whether it is in the OIZ or not;

• Tax Discount,
• Insurance Premium Employer Share,
• Interest Support,
• Investment Place Allocation,
• VAT Exemption,
• Customs Tax Exemption,
• It benefits from incentives such as the Regional Minimum Fixed Investment Amount.

Incentives also vary according to the type of investment and the incentive region. More precisely, no matter which region it is made, it is highly encouraged like the 5th region supports.

Today, health tourism has become very important and our country is in a strong position in this regard. For this reason, incentives applied to thermal hotels and thermal tourism investments, which are a very important component of health tourism,  are  also very high.

Within the scope of participation supports in foreign tourism fairs;

• Communiqué on Organizing and Evaluating Fairs Abroad (2010/5)
• Communiqué on Supporting Fair Participation Abroad (2009/5)
• Implementation Procedures and Principles of the Communiqué No. 2009-5 on Supporting Fair Participation Abroad
•  Incentives are also given to the sector in line with the Decision on Supporting Sectoral Qualified International Domestic Fairs (Decision No: 2014/4) .

In investments to be made by foreign investors in domestic activities;

• Incentives Provided by the Tourism Incentive Law
• Support for Motion Picture Films
• VAT Exemption for Foreign Cinema Producers
• Support is also provided for cultural sponsorships, such as tax reductions.

In addition, the List of Tourism Investment Incentives according to their subjects for the investor who will invest in tourism is as follows.

1. Investment Place Allocation
2. VAT Exemption
3. Customs Duty Exemption
4. Tax Discount
5. Insurance Premium Support
6. Insurance Premium Employer Share Support
7. Income Tax Withholding Support
8. Interest / Dividend Support

HOW TO GET TOURISM INVESTMENT INCENTIVES?

In order to receive incentives from tourism investments,  the project must first be revealed in all its details. Tourism investments are very diverse. There are also differentiated incentive mechanisms according to this diversity. 

• After determining the incentives according to the tourism investment type,  the financial status of the investment and the investment location should be determined. If a land allocation on Treasury lands is to be requested, the project should be prepared accordingly.
• In order to allocate space for tourism investments within the scope of the incentive  certificate, first of all, the details of the project and investment must be fully revealed.
• In the light of this information, the project and application file are prepared and submitted to the ministry. Within the scope of this application, pre-allocation is done.
• The pre-allocation letter is considered equivalent to the investment incentive certificate in terms of place allocation. The main purpose of this article is to express that the investment incentive certificate cannot be issued because other documents that cannot be obtained without determining the investment location cannot be submitted, but the project is qualified to issue an investment incentive certificate.

After obtaining the Environmental Impact Assessment and Tourism Investment Certificate required within the scope of the planned hotel or tourism investment project, an application is made to the Ministry again and it is now possible  to issue an incentive certificate for tourism investment together with these documents  .

When the investment is completed, a Tourism Operation Certificate is issued during the operation period. When the investment is finished, an appraisal must be done for the investment completion visa process in accordance with the legislation. At this stage, the document in question must also be submitted.

All transactions and all related steps are followed properly and in the correct order, and as a result,  an incentive  certificate is issued for tourism investments, the right to benefit from the support within the scope of the document and the right to benefit from the investment place allocation support.

To benefit from tourism investment incentives  ;

• Applications are made in the E-TUYS system, but the electronic document application is rejected in the E-TUYS system and the pre-allocation letter is answered through the EBAYS system.
• Some of these processes should be carried out electronically (E-TUYS) and some should be carried out physically.

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