Some 50 cruise ships visit Turkish ports in three months

ISTANBUL

A total of 50 cruise ships visited Turkish ports in January-March, up from 42 in the same period of last year, according to the latest numbers from the Transportation Ministry.

The number of cruise passengers visiting the country rose from 34,112 to more than 61,000 in the first three months of 2024.

In March alone, 27 ships brought a total of 36,232 holidaymakers to the Turkish ports.

The port of Kuşadası was the busiest in the first quarter, hosting a total of 26 cruise ships and nearly 36,000 travelers. In the same period of last year, 21 cruise ships and some 20,000 cruise passengers visited the port.

Istanbul welcomed eight cruise ships and 9,800 passengers, down from 10 ships and 10,397 passengers in the January-March period of last year.

The port of Samsun on the Black Sea coast was the third busiest in the first three months of 2024, welcoming four cruise ships and 3,905 passengers.

Only one cruise ship with 282 passengers docked at the port in the popular holiday destination Antalya on the Mediterranean coast.

Türkiye is hoping to host 60 million visitors and generate $60 billion in tourism revenues this year.

Foreign tourist arrivals increased by 13.2 percent in January-March to more than 7 million, while tourism revenues in the first quarter of 2024 rose 5.4 percent year-on-year to $8.78 billion, showed the latest data from the Tourism Ministry.