Biography of Yunus Gürkan

Mr. Yunus Gurkan has worked in the Global Tourism sector for more than  40 years. He is a recognized expert in the fields of hospitality, healthcare tourism and the marketing of thermal activities. He also has progressive experience in the hotel management industry.

Mr. Yunus Gurkan is currently Senior Member of Advisory Board of the Turkish Healthcare Tourism Development Council, for which he previously served as Secretary General for two terms and before that two terms as Thermal & Medical Spa Group President. Mr. Gurkan worked in management roles and in direct consultative assistance to a wide range of clients and organizations in the USA for over a decade. He previously worked for a number of years as a tourism consultant for various European Tour Operators, such as First Choice and TUI, and actively took the role of senior operations director for world-known hotel chains.

He is a frequent exhibitor and facilitator at worldwide health tourism conventions and organizations on a variety of subjects. Particularly, his focus is on ‘The New Dimensions of Thermal Tourism Development’ in Turkey also Clinic Hotel concepts globally. He has successfully developed several marketing plans that have resulted in increased awareness and revenue for hotels with thermal medical spa centers and thermal healthcare facilities. He has been instrumental in leading a string of strategic planning efforts and coordinating countless thermal tourism studies for clients across Turkey.

Mr. Gurkan’s main interests are tourism planning, policy formulation, management, and sustainable tourism development with a special emphasis on Thermal Healthcare Tourism within Turkey. In pursuing these interests, he advises the Turkish Healthcare Development Council on health tourism development, and, in particular, competitive development strategies for the thermal tourism industry, which has been identified as one of the key sectors in the realization of the country’s development blueprint in Vision 2023. Mr. Gurkan’s experiences and efforts span well beyond the Turkish borders as he was a three-term Secretary General and is now Supervisory Board President for the Global Healthcare Travel Council.

yunusgurkan@ygurkan.com