Like Dubai, where is home to several artificial island projects, Turkey’s Black Sea city of Trabzon is also planning to build an artificial island to draw more local and foreign tourists. Trabzon, which is already one of the most important tourism hubs in the eastern Black Sea region with its natural beauties, history, cultural and sporting activities, seeks to draw more local and foreign tourists with a new tourism project.
The eastern Black Sea Development Agency (DOKA) announced its project of building an artificial tourism island as an alternative tourism projects in the region. The agency intends to make Trabzon a center of attraction for tourists with the project which will cost TL 2 million ($825 thousand).
DOKA's Secretary-General Çetin Oktay Kaldırım, said that 1,946,498 local and 1,054,855 foreign tourists visited the city last year, and highlighted that the number of tourists coming to Trabzon increases every year.
The planned island is a project that will put different tourist activities in one place and bring prestige to the region. If the project is approved, the infrastructure work of the project will be undertaken by the state and the superstructure investments will be conducted by the private sector. As part of the project, which will be completed in four years, two five-star hotels and luxurious houses will be built on the island. Apart from the residential area, there will be an artificial sea, theme park, marina, sports facilities, opera house, shopping malls, trade center, restaurants, cafes, swimming pools, local products market, entertainment venues and museums.
