“Atlanta is still in the infant stages of international travel. Most of the air travel from Atlanta is still around 75% domestic with only 25% international. As a predominantly international airline company, Turkish Airline is focused on the growth of international destination tourism from entertainment, large conferences, and corporate development.

 

For example, Turkish Airlines flies daily for passengers bound for Istanbul and Turkey, solely for film tours for Spanish shows being filmed there. Even Turkey has realized the economic impact of filmmaking, specifically for the Spanish speaking countries, and they are capitalizing on the growth”, shared Coskun.

 

“With our office in Atlanta, we have joined forces with large hotel brands and event planners to attract large international medical conferences. Through these efforts the feedback has been that there is not enough to do close to conference facilities for the 2-3 hours between breaks in the conference agendas that interest our attendees.

We are hopeful as the studio tours begin this will generate an opportunity to  provide a missing link needed to attract these international events”, added Coskun.

With Atlanta hosting one of the World Cup Finals in 2026,Georgia has an opportunity for the next two years to build out the  entertainment tourism industry across the board with music, film, television, video gaming, esports and all of the creative arts.

“I know Americans look forward to the annual Superbowl game and it generates tremendous economic impact, but I don’t know if they fully realize how big the World Cup Finals are to the global community. It is massive! This is a real opportunity for Georgia, almost like the 1996 Olympics, which put Georgia on the map internationally. ETAG’s laser focus on entertainment tourism is timely, and Turkish Airlines is here to support it”, concluded Coskun.