There are more than 100 festivals in Turkey every year. In addition to the local festivals organized in almost every city of the country, international culture and art festivals are held in major cities including Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Antalya. Istanbul is the most important center in Turkey of international culture and art festivals.

Information on the principle Turkish international art and culture festivals and other important events can be found at www.turkey.org (click on Travel and Tourism Calender and Weather section) The Istanbul Culture and Art Foundation’s web site, www.istfest.org, gives detailed information on their festivals in Istanbul. In recent years, Turkey has been very popular with the congress tourism market, and Turkey hosts more congresses, fairs and conventions every year. With over 50 airlines flying to Turkey and most major European cities just a two or three hour flight away, Istanbul has become the venue of choice for many conventions and exhibitions.

Istanbul offers the 5,000-person capacity Istanbul Convention & Exhibition Center (ICEC), two fair and exhibition halls, the International Exhibition Center (CNR) and the Fair and Congress Center (TUYAP), and numerous five star hotels with convention facilities. Istanbul can host 25,000 conference and exhibition delegates and visitors at any one time.

For more information on ICEC, CNR, TUYAP and for a calendar of fairs and exhibitions at these centers, visit their web sites: www.icec.org, www.itf-exhibitions.com, and www.tuyap.com A list and a calendar of all fairs throughout Turkey can be found at www.igeme.org.tr (the calendar of fairs is in Turkish).