Turkish Minister of Culture & Tourism Ertugrul Gunay said on Saturday that tourism sector should be supported more in Turkey.

Speaking at a meeting titled "Turkey Tourism Economy and Monetary Policies" held in southern province of Antalya, Gunay said Turkey needed a realistic point of view, and added that Turkey needed to set goals and obtain results from the targets.

"Tourism will be the driving force of economic and social development in the next ten years in Turkey. Antalya is the admiral ship role of this," he said.

Gunay said Turkish economy resisted global economic crisis, "the leading sector in this resistance is tourism. Despite all the problems, tourism sector managed to conclude the year with a 2.8 percent growth," he said.

Gunay said there were some problems regarding deposits related to Eximbank credits, "the letter of guarantee asked from the tourism sector is a serious burden on us. It poses an obstacle in front of us to use loan. Facilities should be provided on guaranty".
 

AA