Cruise tourist traffic on rise in Turkey

ANTALYA - Anadolu Agency

DHA Photo

Cruise tourist traffic to Turkey increased by 20 percent in the first half of the year from the same period in 2014, according to data compiled from the database of the Touristic Hoteliers’ Association of the Mediterranean (AKTOB). 

The number of cruise tourists visiting the country rose to 647,984 in the first six months of the year from 538,409 in the same period of the previous year, according to the AKTOB data. 

Cruise tourist traffic increased by 51 percent in Istanbul in the first half of 2015 year-on-year to 2014, hosting around 216,800 cruise tourists between January and June this year. The number of cruise tourists visiting the Aegean resort of Kuşadası rose to 194,348 in the mentioned period, representing a roughly 14 percent increase compared to the same months of 2014. 

The number of cruise tourists visiting the Aegean province of İzmir, however, decreased by 10.7 percent to 76,636 in the first half of the year compared to the same period of 2014. The same decreasing trend was also seen in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya, as the number of visitors to the southern hotspot dropped by 13.3 percent to 56,268 in the first six months of 2015 year-on-year. 

Meanwhile, a total of 1.79 million cruise tourists visited Turkey in 2014, representing a 20 percent decrease from the previous year, according to data from the Transportation Ministry. The Istanbul Port, one of the country’s biggest cruise ports, welcomed 518,000 tourists last year, a 25 percent decline from the figures in 2013.