Antalya, brand of luxury yacht-making

Turkish yacht-makers operating in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya are becoming more and more renowned worldwide after selling luxury yachts to globally known figures, such as Formula One driver David Coulthard, Kuwait's Al-Sabah family and several other rich businessmen from around the world.

Boat builder companies first started operations at Antalya Free Zone eight years ago, and sold over 130 luxury yachts in this period, Zeki Gurses, top official of the free zone, told the AA on Wednesday.
"They are now building 50-60 luxury yachts a year. Antalya has become a global brand in yacht building," Gurses said.

A significant part of these yachts were exported mostly to Italy, France, United States, Middle East countries, the Netherlands, Britain and Germany, Gurses said.

He said yacht builders in Antalya had famous customers such as Formula One driver David Coulthard, Kuwaiti Amir Al-Sabah's family members, owners of British and German supermarket chains, whose names were kept secret, and famous American yacht manufacturer Genmar's chairman Irwin Jacobs, who ordered 300 mahogany yachts for the U.S. market which were valued at 150 million USD.

Following reports that the impact of the global economic crisis has lessened, orders for luxury boats and the manufacturing of yachts have increased at a free zone in Antalya, Turkey’s Mediterranean resort city.

In the first five months of 2010, yacht builders in Antalya sold seven luxury yachts to clients from France, Norway, the Cayman Islands, the Virgin Islands and Panama. These exports brought $27.4 million to Turkey, yacht builders said. Seven more boats will be launched in a couple of weeks from shipyards in Antalya, free zone director Zeki Gürses stated. “Our goal is to reach an export target of 25 luxury yachts by the end of this year. Turkey has become a country that has a say in yacht building,” he added. Yacht builders in Antalya have reached a total trade volume of $560 million over the past 10 years.