Tüyap was founded in Istanbul on June 28, 1979 . First exhibitions were held in the Istanbul Sports and Exhibition Palace and the Etap Marmara Hotel; but once the number of projects started to increase heading towards industrialized fairs, a dedicated exhibition centre became a priority. To address this need, the Istanbul Exhibition Palace was opened in March 30, 1987. As the demand kept increasing, so did a pressing need for a fully-developed centre having a modern infrastructure complying to international standards. This venue was to be the Tüyap Beylikdüzü Fair and Congress Center, opened in 1996. With outdoor and indoor areas of 60,000 square metres each, the centre is Turkey's largest privately-owned exhibition centre.

Following the growth in Istanbul, Anatolian cities were the next target for expansion. As a result, Tüyap started operating exhibition centres in Bursa in June 2002, and in Konya in May 2003. On its 27 th anniversary, Tüyap has become one of the leading organisers in Turkey and across the world with domestic contact offices in Ankara, Bursa, İzmir, Adana, Konya, Samsun and foreign contact offices in Moscow, Tbilisi, Sofia, Aleppo and Tehran, as well as a network of representatives in 12 countries. Since June 1981 when the first exhibition was organised, Tüyap has held 734 exhibitions, fairs and congresses, 645 of which were in Turkey. Turkey has been represented in 89 international events in 27 countries. Tüyap has adopted the TS EN ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System in February 7, 2002.

With great emphasis on cooperation and collaboration with domestic and foreign professional organisations, Tüyap is a member of the ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association), INTEREXPO (The Association of Organizers Responsible for National Participations to International Trade Fairs ), ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) and UFI (The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry). Tüyap is also a founding member and current president of the Turkish Fair Organisers Association, the leading professional organisation of the exhibition industry in Turkey.