Tourism targets for 2024 remain unchanged, says VP Yılmaz

BİLECİK

The government is keeping its targets for the number of visitors and tourism revenues unchanged for 2024, Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz has said.

“We still expect 60 million tourists to visit Türkiye this year, while aiming for $60 billion in tourism revenues,” Yılmaz said in a speech in the province of Bilecik.

Last week, the government unveiled its updated medium-term program, covering 2025-27, where it changed its inflation and growth projections.

It revised downward its growth expectation for 2024 from a previous 4 percent to 3.5 percent and lifted its inflation target from 33 percent to 41.5 percent.

The current account deficit has been on the decline due to tourism revenues, as well as rising exports and declining imports, Yılmaz said.

Türkiye’s tourism revenues increased by 9.3 percent year-on-year in January-June to $23.7 billion, while foreign tourist arrivals rose by 8.3 percent annually in the first seven months of 2024 to 28.98 million.

Export revenues are expected to be $264 billion at the end of this year, the vice president also said.

“Even though the demand conditions in the world are not favorable and there is a recession in Europe, which is our main export market, our exporters are doing a great job,” Yılmaz added.

Exports are rising, while imports are falling, which helps to reduce the current account deficit, he noted.

In the January-August period, exports grew 3.9 percent to $171 billion and imports shrank 8.7 percent to $226 billion, which led to a foreign trade deficit of $54.7 billion, down nearly 34 percent.

The trade deficit is an important component of the current account.