Hotel Stashkonak, Istanbul

Air Arabia is going to start flying to Istanbul, Turkey regularly from now onwards. Roundtrip flights will operate twice per week between Air Arabia’s Egypt hub in Alexandria and Istanbul Sabiha International Airport. The flights depart Alexandria on Fridays and Sundays at 17:00 and arrive in Istanbul at 19:55. The return flights depart Istanbul at 21:05 (local time) and arrive in Alexandria at 22:05 (local time).

Travel to Istanbul is becoming very popular in recent times according to a new survey. The Big Apple can perhaps take consolation that visitors will spend $20.3 billion there this year, more than every other city save London, which will see cross-border expenditures of $25.6 billion.

As well as studying total arrivals, MasterCard also looked at visitor growth, forecasting that the Spanish city of Barcelona will see the biggest jump - 24.3 percent growth in arrivals this year, followed by Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur at 21.8 percent and Istanbul at 20.4 percent.

Turkey’s tourism industry has triumphed in recent years and the country is a hugely popular destination with the Brits, with 2.43 million arriving from the UK last year.

Results are expected to be even more positive this year, with 2.31 million British visitors already having arrived in Turkey in the first 9 months of 2010. New investments in the tourism sector, a more sophisticated brand of tourism, wider choice of alternatives and value for money have all contributed to this success.

Award-winning

The Mövenpick Hotel Istanbul has been selected the world’s leading city hotel for 2010 by World Travel Awards, according to a press release.

“It is a privilege and pleasure to receive this award which reconfirms the exceptional service and experience the Mövenpick Hotel Istanbul offers guests also conclusively proves that our unique combination of Swiss attention to details complemented by the warm and friendly Turkish hospitality appeals to the most demanding travelers and discerning guests,” Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts President and Chief Executive Officer Jean Gabriel Pérès.

Thanks to a handful of new books by locals in the know, visitors to Istanbul can now delve even deeper into this city’s delights.

The American writer and teacher Ann Marie Mershon teamed up with a locally renowned guide, Edda Renker Weissenbacher, a polyglot Turk known for her fascinating strolls through undiscovered areas, to produce “Istanbul’s Bazaar Quarter: Backstreet Walking Tours.”

Their four chosen itineraries take readers down cobbled streets to narrow stairways, in the zone that stretches from Aksaray through the Grand Bazaar down to the Egyptian spice market.

The door to luring Turkish tourists to Malaysia is 'wide open,' but Malaysia has yet to fully tap its tourism market, said Turkish Ambassador to Malaysia Serap Ataay.

"Turkish people love to go on holidays.

"While many of them travel to Europe and Australia, Malaysia is yet to be a preferred destination.

"A lot can be done," Ataay said, adding that 29,000 Malaysians visited Turkey last year.

"However, only around 8,000 Turks visited Malaysia, a figure I believe can increase with proper promotion from Malaysia.

"Malaysia's tourism performance is impressive.

Just over a decade ago Jerusalem was ranked fourth in the world in the number of international conferences it hosted, but the outbreak of the second intifada, and the years of regional instability that followed, plummeted it down the rankings.

Today Israel is in 58th place, hosting 23 international conferences, roughly a third of the number it hosted at its peak.

Travel Turkey 2010 Izmir Tourism Fair and Conference, one of the most significant meetings in the tourism sector, will be organized this year for the fourth time under the cooperation between İZFAŞ, Turkish Travel Agencies Association (TÜRSAB) and Hannover-Messe International Istanbul.

The Travel Turkey Izmir Tourism Fair, which will be held on 9 - 12 December 2010 at the Izmir International Fairground, prepares to host tourism professionals from around the world and from Turkey's many unique destinations.

Our first morning in Istanbul, the waiter in our small hotel served us the traditional Turkish breakfast of olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, crusty bread and steaming tea. As we finished, he beckoned us up the stairs to the rooftop - we could see the F1 track, and were tempted to buy some Formula One Tickets.