Sivas Chamber of Commerce and Industry (STSO) Chairman of the Board Mustafa Eken, with the participation of the members of the Board of Directors and university professors, 'Fast journey to the future; He introduced the final reports booklet of the High Speed Train Workshop.
In the presentation made in the Conference Hall of our Chamber, 'Fast Journey to the Future; Providing information about the results of the High Speed Train Workshop and the booklet, our President Mustafa Eken said, “Fast Journey to the Future in Sivas, where the potential effects of the High Speed Train, which is expected to start in 2021, on Sivas, High Speed Train Workshop in Sivas, Sivas Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (STSO) on March 16, 2021. In the workshop, ideas that will contribute to Sivas's High Speed Train preparations were discussed with 250 participants from different sectors and institutions.
The Ankara-Sivas High Speed Train (YHT) project, which was started to be built in 2008, has now come to an end and YHT test drives have started as of February 2021. With YHT, which is announced to start its first flight on September 4, 2021, the distance between Ankara and Sivas will be reduced to 2 hours. With the start of YHT flights, it will be inevitable to experience socio-economic movement in Sivas. However, we will have some lessons in order to get the maximum efficiency from YHT and we will have to work well on them.
As the Sivas Chamber of Commerce and Industry, we organized the "Fast Journey to the Future, High Speed Train Workshop in Sivas" in order to identify our deficiencies before the start of High Speed Train services and to make our sectors and our province ready.
High Speed Train is a big win for Sivas. Developing and continuing to grow, Sivas will gain even more momentum with the high-speed train.
We know that with the opening of the High Speed Train line between Ankara and Sivas, the region will develop rapidly and the life of the people of the region will change. A person living in Istanbul will be able to come to Sivas in 4 hours and go to Ankara in 2 hours. Every year, 2 million foreign citizens come to Sivas. Around 800 thousand foreign tourists come to our region. We estimate that this number will reach 5 million with the arrival of the high-speed train. There will be a great increase in tourism revenues. Of course, we will have to prepare our city and tourism areas accordingly. In order for these to be realized, we need to work in unity and solidarity in order for YHT to contribute to our city in terms of economy and promotion. If there are deficiencies, we need to identify them and create solutions. We must make our city ready in every sense before the expeditions begin. Everyone from our tradesmen to our institutions and NGOs should do their part. For this reason, as Sivas Chamber of Commerce and Industry, we held this workshop.”
Expressing that the High Speed Train will start operations on September 4 according to the information announced by the authorities, our President Eken continued his words as follows; “YHT has started test drives. It comes to Sivas YHT Station. Our people saw YHT's arrival and are impatiently waiting for it to become operational. We, as Sivas TSO, organized a workshop in coordination with the provinces where the flights started to prepare Sivas for the High Speed Train. In line with the results we obtained in this workshop, we will determine a road map in many areas from health to industry, from trade to education. We will deal with our existing services in a wide area such as urban transportation, health institutions, restaurants, hotels, tourism areas, districts, and we will work together to eliminate the deficiencies, if any. I will share with you the highlights of the results of our workshop.
We have been waiting for the high-speed train with longing, longing, and eagerness for years. We know that the high-speed train will make valuable contributions to the future of our Sivas. The high-speed train will make a rapid entry into our lives in the very near future and will quickly change the face of our city. This is exactly why we named our workshop “Fast Journey to the Future”. Within the scope of our workshop, we tried to come up with ideas, strategies and policy ideas that would draw a roadmap for our Sivas to benefit from the innovations that the high speed train will bring to the maximum with the contributions of our valuable guests.
Within the scope of the workshop, the results of the focus group studies, suggestions and online survey conducted at 22 tables were turned into a booklet by the Sivas Chamber of Commerce and Industry and presented to all stakeholders and the people of Sivas, both in print and electronically.
Many valuable insights emerged from our workshop. Many opinions and 72 concrete policy proposals came from our participants. We wanted to share these views with all relevant institutions, organizations and our people. In line with the opinions and suggestions received, we also prepared a strategic action plan consisting of approximately 130 items. We would like all our stakeholders to access the final report and workshop booklet of our workshop via our chamber website.”
Listing the 10 important items, our President Eken said;
- Undoubtedly, tourism is one of the sectors that will be most affected by YHT. For this reason, our stakeholders in the tourism sector should develop thermal tourism, winter tourism, faith tourism, historical tourism, congress and sports tourism, apitherapy and natural tourism, day trip routes and package tours for different SES (Socio-Economic Status) groups,
- More frequent and efficient use of the Kangal Dog as a promotional item,
- Making urban transportation and transportation to districts more practical,
- Improving the quality and quantity of accommodation facilities, increasing both the infrastructure and personnel quality of the facilities,
- Promoting Sivas-specific plants, handicrafts and Sivas cuisine in the most professional way,
- Underlining the theme of the National Struggle and the importance of Sivas in the National Struggle,
- Design of local festivals, festivals, events that will make Sivas more attractive in terms of tourism (experience design),
- Making necessary studies on digitalization quickly,
- Implementation of zoning plans that can make the Kızılırmak area a center of attraction,
- It is of great importance to support all kinds of social infrastructure for entertainment in line with the needs of the visitors, and to carry out PR studies on the definition and perception of the touristic center in the eyes of the public.
Our Chairman Eken, who said, 'We believe that the workshop will have a great impact on Sivas,' said, “We have full faith that it will have an impact on our stakeholders and the sector. I would like to thank all our lecturers, especially our university rectors, who have supported these studies since the beginning, our lecturers who contributed to the 25 tables, our Board Members, Assembly Members, and our Chamber staff who took part in this study. I wish this workshop to be beneficial for our city and our country. I would like once again to take this workshop seriously, not to see all institutions as a booklet, to read one by one and to work on their homework once again. As the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, we held the workshop, we finished it, we will not say that our task is over. Our mission never ends, it never will. We will follow this work until the end. We will examine them one by one. Even if there is an institution that is deficient, makes mistakes or does not take it seriously, we will express this as well. With the high-speed train coming to Sivas, Sivas will be a city that will meet the world, with Demirağ Organization, with the signing of the 1st Organization and the 6th Region incentives decree, with its high-speed train and its second university, Sivas will be an investment paradise in this troubled period. This is in our hands, friends. We will deserve this with unity and brotherhood. We will stop the gossip, we will embrace all the problems of Sivas together. We are taking our measures before the high-speed train arrives. In this sense, I would like to thank you, esteemed members of the press, for your support from the very beginning and for being here with us today.”
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