Tourism revenue target to be met despite challenges: VP Yılmaz
ANKARA
Türkiye is on course to meet the tourism revenue target set for 2023 despite the challenges in its region, Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz has said.
Türkiye has been diversifying its tourism market to offer different products and services such as cultural tourism, medical tourism, congress tourism and ecotourism, Yılmaz said, speaking at Travelexpo Tourism and Travel Fair in the capital Ankara.
Such efforts have been paying off as the number of visitors to Türkiye has increased more than tripled over the past 20 years, he noted.
Last year total visitors grew 71 percent from 2021 to reach 51.4 million, while in the first 10 months of 2023, Türkiye attracted 45.2 million visitors, Yılmaz said, adding that in line with the increase in tourist arrivals, the country’s revenues are also rising.
“Our tourism revenues amounted to $42 billion in the first nine months of the year. We are moving toward meeting the target of generating $55.6 billion in tourism revenues this year as foreseen in the medium-term program.”
Yılmaz noted that there are unfavorable developments in the region.
“Some geopolitical developments which are beyond our control inevitably have some negative effects. But despite those challenges, we will achieve our targets,” he said.
According to the latest report of the World Travel and Tourism Council, the global size of the travel industry is expected to reach $15.5 trillion dollars by 2033, Yılmaz noted.
“We are working to ensure that our country can get a larger share of the ever-growing market.”
Türkiye’s tourism industry has made huge progress over the year, he noted.
The number of travel agencies operating in the sector, which was 4,350 in 2002, increased by 3.5 times and reached 14,500 in 2022, according to Yılmaz.
“The improvement in the tourism industry also manifests itself in terms of increased added value. The average expenditure per night climbed from $65 at the end of 2017 to $89 in 2022 and further up to $100 in the first nine months of 2023,”
Türkiye, which ranked 17th in the world in terms of the number of visitors in 2002, rose to fourth place with 51.4 million visitors in 2022, Culture Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said while speaking at the same trade fair.
The country increased its tourism revenues from $12.4 billion in 2002 to $46.5 billion in 2022, thus climbing seventh place in the world rankings in terms of tourism revenues, according to Ersoy.