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"Internationally recognised luxury hotel chain Hilton are to open a 144 room hotel in the Fugla district of Alanya on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, local newspapers reported this week. According to the reports, celebrity Paris Hilton (the boss's daughter) is to attend the official opening of the hotel.
This is the latest testament to the growing profile of Turkey and its coastal resort towns. But this is particularly significant for Alanya.
The Gazipasa airport just outside Alanya opened this year, after several years of false hope and legal and political, wrangling. Currently the airport is only serving domestic routes, but TAV, the company operating the airport has told us that a runway expansion project is currently underway, and that international flights will start when the expansion is completed next year. The new Hilton Hotel is perhaps the first sign of the impact that the new airport could have.
The nearest international airport to Alanya is at Antalya. While it is one of the best served airports in Turkey, it is 90 minutes away from Alanya, and this is definitely a drawback for some holiday makers and property buyers.
Alanya is one of Turkey's top tourist destinations, and home to the largest population of British expats in Turkey. The lack of an airport in a 30 minutes radius was pretty much the only reason Alanya property hasn't been more dominant in the overseas property market.
There has been a lot of talk about how the opening of the Gazipasa airport triggering a wave of new development in Alanya. It is entirely possible that the new Hilton Hotel is the start of great things to come.
