Dr. Elif Balcı Fisunoglu
Vice General Manager- Tourism Operations & Development
Fisunoglu’s career in the communication and travel, tourism, industry spans more than 25 years, with senior positions in Europe and in Türkiye. She is a highly regarded expert in destination and nation marketing and international meetings industry, tourism product development in both private, public sectors and non-governmental associations both in Türkiye and regional/ global positions in Netherlands.
Elif Balcı Fisunoğlu (Ph.D) is currently, the Vice-General Manager of Tourism Operations and Development division in Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency which founded by Ministry of Tourism and by law and represents Turkiye and TGA at UNWTO Board of Affiliate Members, WTTC- World Travel & Tourism Council Execuitve Committee and GSTC- Global Sustainable Tourism Council Board of Directors.
Academically holding a Doctorate (Ph.D.) degree in Public Relations with the topic of Strategic Communication and Destination Image.
More about Dr. Fisunoglu
Elif has held senior and managerial positions in diverse organizations across all aspects of the Turkish and European tourism spheres, including fourteen years at Istanbul Convention & Visitors Bureau (ICVB). First in senior sales and marketing positions before serving for four years as General Manager, Elif spearheaded the roll-out of ICVB’s innovative public-private partnership model, which resulted in Istanbul breaking into the top 10 congress destinations in 2010
Elif also served for two years as Regional Director – Europe at the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where she represented the region’s diverse membership of 580 organizations from 48 countries, from hotels to airlines to DMCs and beyond.
In addition to her former positions, she has held several volunteer and board positions at international industry associations such as European Cities Marketing, ICCA, Global Destination Sustainability Advisory Board, SKAL International Istanbul Club and was the MPI- Meeting Professional International Turkiye Chapter President from 2016 to 2018..