Türkiye aims to be among top 3 countries in tourism: Minister

ANTALYA

Türkiye aims to become one of the top three countries in global tourism, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said.

“We set out big targets for the ‘Century of Türkiye.’ We target to welcome 60 million tourists and $56 billion in tourism revenues in 2023. For 2028, our targets are 90 million visitors and $100 billion in revenues,” Ersoy said during a visit to the popular holiday destination Antalya.

The past five years have been very difficult for the tourism industry, Ersoy said, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, wildfires, the Russian-Ukraine war and the deadly February earthquakes.

“However, we managed all those difficulties successfully. The Turkish tourism industry emerged from this difficult period stronger.”

Ersoy recalled that Türkiye ranked third globally in 2022 in terms of the number of tourist arrivals, climbing three spots compared with 2019.

“There will be hurdles, but we will grow stronger and achieve the targets set for 2028 to become one of the top three countries in global tourism,” the minister said.

Last year, nearly 45 million foreign tourists visited Türkiye, pointing to an 80 percent increase from 2021. Including Turks living abroad, tourist arrivals stood at 51.4 million people.

Tourism revenues, one of the main sources of hard currency, rose more than 53 percent in 2022 compared with the previous year to $46.3 billion.

According to the latest data from the tourism industry, more than 9.3 million foreign tourists visited Türkiye in the first four months this year, up 27.5 percent year-on-year, while tourism revenues climbed 32 percent to $8.69 billion in the first quarter.