The opening of the long awaited Gazipasa airport will have a massive impact on the Alanya property market, leading Turkish property agent Spot Blue has announced.

Proximity to an airport has become increasingly important to a destinations success, the firm said, and Gazipasa being just 30 minutes away from Alanya will be a major plus for property sales there.

Spot Blue director Julian Walker said: “Property buyers are savvier now than ever before; they know that ease of accessibility is an essential part of a successful property investment, and has obvious benefits for holiday home owners. The fact that the nearest airport to Alanya was Antalya International, over one and a half hours drive away, never held Alanya back during the boom time when it became one of Turkey’s largest expatriate communities.

“Faced with a more accessibility-conscious property buyer this drive threatened to possibly become a hindrance this year and thankfully we may not need to find out. According to Gazipasa operators TAV the airport will welcome its first international flight in mid-May which will roll out internationally in 2011.”

Walker said Spot Blue had interviewed TAV who confirmed that the airport was to receive its first ever international flight..

According to Yavuz AYTIS a marketing specialist with TAV, the first flight into the airport will be a Hamburg International flight from Hamburg. AYTIS went on to say “the airport can currently only take narrow aircrafts like A319s, but will be opening up to new destinations including Russia and Britain after the runway extension is completed next year”.

Gazipasa airport is undoubtedly the record holder for the longest ever opening period. Its construction was completed in 2001, but a slew of debates over the damage it would do to neighbouring Antalya airport and its suitability as an international airport given its size and proximity to residential housing estates delayed its opening. Now, according to AYTIS all those issues have been resolved and the airport should grow into the international airport it rightly should be.

Alanya is comparatively underdeveloped compared to some of the other hotspots. If or when the Gazipasa airport does become fully operational, development in Alanya will need to be ramped up its infrastructure to house the incoming masses of tourists and holiday home buyers. Luckily there are developers willing and waiting to make this a reality, and trustworthy agents like Spot Blue, who have been in Alanya since 2003, are waiting to help people get their dream properties in Alanya as they come onto the market.

Source : Spot Blue