Kayseri’s economy growing dynamically

Prominent families of Turkish economy, such as Sabancı, Has, Dedeman, Hattat, Kurmel, Özyeğin, Karamanlargil, Boydak and Özilhan started out as small-scale merchants in Kayseri.

Thanks to the economic liberalization policies introduced in the 1980s, a new wave of merchants and industrialists from Kayseri joined their predecessors. Most of these new industrialists choose Kayseri as base of their operations. As a consequence of better infrastructures, the city achieved a remarkable industrial growth since 2000 and is one of the key cities that characterize the class of Anatolian Tigers, with a favorable environment present especially for small and medium enterprises. The pace of growth of the city was so fast that in 2004 the city applied to the Guinness Book of World Records for the most new manufacturing industries started in a single day: 139 factories.

Kayseri also has emerged as one of the most successful mattress and furniture-making hub in Turkey earned more than a billion dollars in export revenues. Kayseri Free Zone established in 1998, today has more than 43 companies with an investment of 140 million dollars. The Zone’s main business activities including; production, trading, warehouse management, mounting and demounting, assembly-disassembly, Merchandising, maintenance and repair, engineering workshops, office and workplace rental, packing-repacking, banking and insurance, leasing, labeling and exhibition facilities. Kayseri FTZ with cost of $8 per square meter is one of the lowest cost land freezones in the world. Families such as Sabancı, Has, Dedeman, Hattat, Kurmel, Özyeğin, Karamanlargil, Boydak and Özilhan who started out as small-scale merchants in Kayseri became prominent actors in the Turkish economy. Some of these families set up their headquarters in cities such as Istanbul and Adana, nevertheless often coming back to Kayseri to invest.

The city is served by Erkilet International Airport and the International Air Transport Association symbol for the airport is ASR. The airport is a short distance from the center of Kayseri. There are several flights per day to Istanbul, Turkey’s premium air transportation hub. Since the air transportation industry in Turkey is growing quickly, new flights from Kayseri to several other localities inside and outside Turkey are soon to be expected.

Kayseri is connected to the rest of country with railway service. There are four trains per day to Ankara. To the east there are two branches: one to Kars and Doğukapi toward Armenia, and another to Tatvan on the west shore of Lake Van.

As the city is located in central Turkey, car and bus transportation are highly efficient. It takes approximately 3 hours to reach Ankara, approximately 3 hours to Mediterranean shores and 45 minutes to Cappadocia. The symbol of the city, Mount Erciyes, which is a notable ski center in winters and a trekker’s paradise in summers, is at only 30 minutes’ drive from the city center.

The transportation within the city relies mainly on buses, and personal vehicles. A light rail transit (LRT) system called Kayseray was  constructed and completed by the end of 2009.