Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has said that Türkey is looking to become one of the top three destination countries in global tourism.
As part of a campaign by the Türkish Culture and Tourism Ministry tagged the ‘Century of Türkiye’, a target has been set out by the government to welcome 60 million tourists and to earn $56 billion in tourism revenues in 2023. Targets have also been set for 2028, which include 90 million visitors and $100 billion in revenues.
Minister Ersoy revealed these targets during a visit to the popular holiday destination Antalya, where he noted that the past five years have been very difficult for the tourism industry in Turkey. This, he said, was a result of global events including the COVID-19 pandemic, wildfires, the Russian-Ukraine war, and the deadly February earthquakes.
According to Ersoy, the Turkish tourism industry has however emerged from this difficult period stronger. In 2022, Türkey ranked third globally in terms of the number of tourist arrivals, climbing three spots compared with 2019.
“There will be hurdles, but we will grow stronger and achieve the targets set for 2028 to become one of the top three countries in global tourism,” the minister said.
Last year, nearly 45 million foreign tourists visited Turkey, which was an 80 percent increase from 2021. Including Turks living abroad, tourist arrivals stood at 51.4 million people.
Tourism revenues, one of the main sources of hard currency, rose to $46.3 billion in 2022, a 53 percent rise when compared with the previous year.
According to the latest data from the tourism industry, more than 9.3 million foreign tourists visited Turkey in the first four months of this year, up 27.5 percent year-on-year, while tourism revenues climbed 32 percent to $8.69 billion in the first quarter of the year.
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