Tourism Summit 2025

Dr. Halil Burak Sakal

Professor
Cappadocia University

Dr. Halil Burak Sakal is a professor is a faculty member at Cappadocia University’s Department of Political Science and International Relations. He is the Director of the Social and Strategic Research Center. His recent work explores the intersection of sustainability, development, and tourism—particularly sustainable tourism policies and practices and Türkiye’s travel and tourism (T&T) competitiveness. 

Dr. Sakal has led international projects including co-authoring the World Economic Forum white paper “Driving Turkey’s Travel and Tourism Development,” advising the government of Türkiye on five-year tourism strategic plans since 2018, as well as more than 20 provinces in Türkiye. 

Together with Global Sustainable Tourism Council, he led teams that developed the GSTC Attraction Standards, GSTC MICE Standards, and the GSTC Food Service Providers Standards. He is a member of the Nevşehir Provincial Promotion and Development Council, an accredited auditor and trainer for the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), and has been nominated by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism as Türkiye’s representative to the UN World Committee on Tourism Ethics.