PERCEPTIONS OF FOREIGN INVESTORS ON THE TOURISM MARKET IN CENTRAL ASIA - Tourism in Central Asia: Cultural Potential and Challenges - page 311

many investment opportunities for different sectors. In the tourism sec-
tor, not only hotel investments but also opportunities such as logistic and
communication, health and thermal tourism, camp-caravan, shopping
centers, tourism education centers, transportation facility for the TTIs
are also part of the investment opportunity portfolio. Naturally, the rap-
idly expanding markets of Asia, a region in which cultural similarity
impact might be expected, would encourage the development of tourism
projects in different forms, whether it be investment or number of arriv-
als between Turkey and CA countries (Williams, 1998).
Go and Ritchie (1990) point out that TNCs usually determine mar-
keting opportunities in a foreign country by way of a four-step pro-
cess—analysis of the general environment determining market potential,
forecasting sales and estimating and weighing prospective profitability
vs. risk. The search for a location with a lower risk and greater return
will be aided by a location study. For a greater return, various business
environmental factors, market potential and capital budgeting should be
studied. The ideal site, besides having a larger net present value (NPV)
and a higher internal rate of return (IRR), should have high scores in the
screening criteria, which encompass risk, incentives, repatriation, for-
eign investment restrictions, tax, market and the hotel industry growth
rate.
Thus, this particular study attempted to include three major areas
of investment consideration factors—general investment consideration
factors, tourism-specific investment considerations, and sustainability
investment considerations. More specifically, this particular study is
one of the first attempts to understand how Turkish companies perceive
the investment conditions and the investment process using a conceptual
framework of market entry opportunities in CA countries. It is hoped
that information generated from this study could be of further help for
investors, tourism developers and government officials.
TOURISM INVESTMENT CONDITIONS
Kazakhstan is considered the most successful Central Asian country in
terms of both economic and political reform. The government actively
encourages international trade and foreign investment (Gleason, 2003).
For purposes of tourism promotion in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the