Turkey's increasing influence over the Middle East of late has also resulted in positively affecting the tourism sector. The popularity of Turkish television shows on Arab television has made destinations such as Istanbul, Bursa, Sakarya, Konya and other Anatolian cities a must-see for Arab tourists. It is this increase in numbers of tourists from the Middle East that has brought along with it a peaked interest by tourism investors.
Since the start of the New Year, a number of the region's biggest tourism companies from Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia have set their sights on Turkey. The first announcement of interest to invest came at the start of 2012 by Dubai Emir Al Maktoum's company Jumeirah. SABAH was the first to release the news that Jumeirah would be embarking on a joint project with Demet Sabancı Çetindoğan in taking over the operations of Turkey's oldest hotel the Pera Palace.
THE GOAL IS ANATOLIA
The second piece of investment news from the region came from the Arab Tourism Organization Chairman Bandar Bin Fahad Al-Fehaid. A member of the Saudi royal family, Al-Fehaid along with his Turkish partner Mehmet Yücel founded the My Tuana-Tuz&SPA Center, a five-star spa, wellness and treatment center situated in Çerkezköy. With a 300 million dollar investment to set up the My Tuana concept, Al-Fehaid has since announced plans to open new hotels in Bursa, Çerkezköy, Afyon and Tarsus. Al-Fehaid has also shared his intentions to open 50 hotels within the next five years.
VICEROY SETS SIGHTS ON BODRUM
VICEROY Hotels Group has announced they will be opening a five-star hotel, spread out on 16 hectares of land and consisting of ten buildings with a Bosphorus view by the end of 2013. Viceroy is also planning to open a five-star hotel in Bodrum.
GULF BANKS OFFER TURKEY TOURS
Gulf banks, which have also been hunting down investments in Turkey, are now sending customers to the country on vacations. CEO Graham Honeybill of the UAE-based Ras Al Khaimah Bank recently announced that in an effort to promote credit card use they are collaborating with tourism firm Makemytrip to offer bank customers and their families the opportunity to participate in a drawing for a five-day vacation to Turkey.
Turkish Airlines won the Skytrax award for Europe's Best Airline for a third time and was also given two other awards.
English investors have not paid heed to the coverage in the international media painting a negative portrait of Turkey during the Gezi Park protests and continue to keep the country on its radar for investments. 
Turkey has become the fastest growing nation for luxurious automobile brands. While luxurious brands experienced seven percent growth globally in the first five months of the year, in Turkey the rate of growth has reached the 100 percentile level. 
While the English press continues to cover the Gezi Park protests to Turkey’s detriment, the British Prime Minister has praised Turkey’s ‘stability.’ David Cameron says “we admire your economy.”
With the Central Bank’s deferred interest rate cut resulting in revitalizing domestic demand, Turkey’s economy experienced three percent growth in the first quarter of the year, sealing 14 quarters of continuous growth. 
The Capital Markets Board has initiated an investigation into exits from the stock exchange by speculators, in a move which followed Erdoğan’s acknowledgement of attempts by the interest rate lobby to instigate a drop in the stock exchange. Should the Capitals Market Board establish a connection between financial exists and speculators sanctions may be enforced.
Çalık Holding has released a statement refuting claims made in reports by CNBC attempting to associate the group with redevelopment plans for Taksim’s Gezi Park.
Saudi Arabian businessman Ehsaan Fareed Abduljawad has purchased two towers in the Ağaoğlu Maslak 1453 project for 200 million dollars. “We trust in Turkey’s economy,” said the billionaire. 
The speculative attack on the markets came to a halt following Prime Minister Erdoğan’s statement directed at the interest-rates lobby, “We will not let you consume the great efforts of our nation.” The dollar has since dropped and the stock exchange is back on a rising trend. 
During the past five days there has been a polemic concerning the boycott of the Moroccan Business Confederation (CGEM) of a meeting between Turkish and Moroccan businessmen which took place during Erdoğan’s trip to Morocco on June 3rd. While the decision had nothing to do with the on-going protests in Istanbul and other cities, the real reason is proving to be an internal conflict between the CGEM and the Moroccan government.
The ‘economic’ demands set forth by the Taksim Platform, which spoke on behalf of the Gezi Park protesters in a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Arınç on Wednesday, have resulted in a number of question marks. The main question being, why are they opposed to projects worth 120 billion such as the third bridge and airport, hydroelectric power plants and Canal Istanbul?
Tosyalı Holding opened a 750 million dollar steel-iron factory in Algeria in a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Expected to rake in an annual one billion dollar revenue, the facility will also provide one thousand jobs.
The Occupy Wall Street movement did not pose a significant financial burden in the United States, whereas the financial burden brought on in Turkey from the Gezi Park protests is exponential. 
It will now be required to place health warnings on the glass portions of water pipes, regularly referred to as ‘nargile’ in Turkey.
