Located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, its perceived proximity to the troubles in the Middle East during the past few years has resulted in a leveling off of tourism activity.

The Daily American newspaper has reported that visits by Americans to Turkey in 2006 finally returned to pre-2001 levels, with 532,000 US. visitor arrivals, according to statistics from the Turkish government.

In the year 2000, some 515,000 Americans visited Turkey, but that number dropped following the September 11 attacks, with only 222,000 US. visitors in 2003. The numbers have been rebounding since then, although tourism officials say most first-time visits by Americans to Turkey nowadays are made via cruise ship.

Peter Frank, editor of Concierge.com, is predicting that travel to Turkey by Americans will continue to grow. “Turkey is going to be enormous this year,” (2007) he said in an interview.

Istanbul even made it onto Concierge.com's “It” list of trendy destinations for 2007. “I was amazed at the sophistication of the restaurants and the nightclubs,” Frank said. “Istanbul is becoming Europe's nightlife capital, with amazing clubs overlooking the Bosphorus and all these great little restaurants on rooftops.

Frank also cited Bodrum on the Turkish coast, where a number of upscale hotels have recently opened, as “appealing to that young, jetsetty crowd - it's the St. Tropez people.”