Turkey’s Antalya grows fast in luxury yacht building

The free trade zone at Turkey’s popular tourist destination, Antalya, is proving attractive to both domestic and international yacht manufacturers, providing a cheap labor force, port and transportation facilities, infrastructure and open space, Turkish Daily News reported on Wednesday.

The Free Trade Zone has built 130 luxury yachts in eight years.

“Many international firms, which face a rising demand for luxury yachts have begun to invest in Turkey as a result of the lack of a production area in their home countries,” Zeki Gurses, general manager of the Antalya Free Zone operating company, ASBAS, told TDN.

“Another motivation for these companies is the decrease in production costs by operating in a country such as Turkey, which offers relatively cheap labor and material,” he also said, adding that almost all yachts produced in Antalya were exported to Europe or the Middle East.

Some 42 firms currently operate in Antalya, with production capacity for composite, wooden or steel-aluminum yachts upon demand.

The United States, Italy, France, Britain, the Netherlands and Germany are among the importers of luxury yachts.