Tourism revenue target revised to $46 billion: Minister

ANKARA

Türkiye has revised its targets upwards for tourist arrivals and tourism revenue for 2022 to 51.5 million and to $46 billion, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has announced.

Some 60 million visitors and $56 billion in tourism revenues are expected next year, Ersoy said, speaking at the parliament where he presented his ministry’s budget for 2023.

“All those numbers point to the fact that Türkiye is now in the super league in the global tourism industry. Our competitors are the top countries [in tourism]. We are moving toward meeting our targets,” Ersoy said.

Türkiye at the start of 2022 set tourist arrival and tourism revenue targets at 42 million and $35 billion. In the face of the rebound in tourism activity, those targets were revised upwards first in July to 47 million and $37 billion. In October, Ersoy announced another revision for the 2022 targets to 50 million tourist arrivals and $44 billion in tourism revenues.

In the January-October period, 39.6 million foreign tourists visited Türkiye, marking an 88 percent increase from the same period of 2021. Including Turkish citizens residing abroad, tourist arrivals exceeded 45 million people.

In the third quarter of 2022, tourism revenues rose by 27 percent year-on-year to $17.95 billion. In the first nine months of the year, tourism revenues amounted to $35 billion, exhibiting a 68 percent increase from a year ago.

Türkiye successfully managed the crisis in the global tourism industry, which was triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, engaging in very effective campaigns abroad to promote the country, Ersoy said.

Under the “Safe Tourism Program,” more than 12,000 facilities and vehicles received a certificate as of June, according to the minister.

“Presently, we are carrying out special promotion campaigns through digital and conventional means of communication in 200 countries.”

Ersoy also noted that Türkiye signed a three-year cooperation agreement with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council and prepared a “Türkiye Sustainable Tourism Program.”

This program sets out sustainability criteria for accommodation facilities, the minister explained.

Under the sustainability program, which covers the years 2023, 2025 and 2030, all accommodation facilities will gradually become environment friendly, Ersoy said.

The government provided a total of 2.3 billion Turkish Liras in financial support between 2002 and 2022 to improve infrastructure and as part of sustainability efforts, according to Ersoy.