Uludağ Economy Summit was held with 1100 participants on March 25th - 26th, 2016. Analyzing the most in-demand topics of the agenda with future-leading speakers, the Summit had the heartbeat of the economy. T The most important economy meeting of Turkey, Uludağ Economy Summit was held for the fifth time on March 25th - 26th, 2016. Organized by Capital and Economist magazines in Uludağ Grand Yazıcı Hotel, the Summit brought together more than 80 distinguished speakers and business people from Turkey and around the world. With the special visit of Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek, Uludağ Economy Summit was attended by 80 speakers among whom veteran Prime Ministry and Ministry of Economy representatives stand out. TOURISM RECOVERY FUND SUGGESTED BY HAMDI AKIN Answering journalists’ questions during the Uludag Economy Summit, CEO of Akfen Holding and Chairman of TAV Airports Hamdi Akın said the impact of tourism in the current deficit is currently between 11-12 billion dollars and added: “Five percent of it accounts to 500-600 million dollars. If this was allocated to a recovery fund and if deals with foreign advertising and lobbying agencies were made, the loss would be covered.” Emphasizing that consulting to banks in order to recompense the loss in the industry would not be an efficient solution, Akın continued as: “Our friends in the tourism industry improved the Turkish tourism sector with active marketing efforts, unique sales models and many new ideas. Now it makes me surprised to see that the industry cannot overcome the current issues. We should have the energy to tackle this problem no matter what. There are billions of people that have not visited Turkey yet. We can show them that we will overcome the terrorism problem. We should set a propaganda for that regard.” Akın said hotel occupancy rates have been badly affected and added: “We are on the risk of losing 70 percent of our current tourism potential but the situation in Atatürk Airport is not that bad yet.”