Minister confident of meeting $56 bln tourism revenue target

ISTANBUL

Türkiye is on course to meet the target of generating $56 billion in tourism revenues in 2023, says Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Ersoy.

The country aims to welcome 60 million tourists this year.

“We are committed to our plan and will deliver on our promises: We will meet the $56 billion tourism revenues target,” Ersoy told daily Hürriyet.

Last year, tourism revenues amounted to $46.3 billion, leaping more than 53 percent compared with 2021.

The latest numbers suggest that Türkiye is on course to meet the foreign visitors and tourism revenue targets it set for 2023.

In the first seven months of 2023, more than 30 million holidaymakers, including Turkish citizens residing abroad, visited Türkiye, which was higher than 26 million visitors in the same period of 2019.

In 2019, the country welcomed a record number of 45 million foreign tourists. Including Turkish citizens residing abroad, total tourist arrivals stood at 51.75 million four years ago.

In January-July, foreign tourist arrivals rose by 16.2 percent from a year earlier to 26.8 million, with foreign tourist visits increasing 7.3 percent year-on-year to 7.2 million in July alone.

Last week, British Ambassador to Türkiye Jill Morris said she expects over a record 4 million British tourists to visit the country.

Türkiye’s tourism revenues increased by 27 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2023 to $21.7 billion, according to the latest data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK).