Türkiye has 531 Blue Flag beaches: Minister

ANTALYA

The number of Blue Flag beaches in Türkiye has risen to 531, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has said.

Antalya, one of the top holiday destinations on the country’s Mediterranean coast, tops the list of cities with most Blue Flag beaches in the world, Ersoy said speaking at the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s (GTSC) Global Sustainable Tourism Council.

In 2022, Türkiye continued to rank third in the list of countries with the most Blue Flag beaches, according to the minister.

The Blue Flag is a certification given by the Copenhagen-based not-for-profit non-governmental organization, Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE).

A Blue Flag is awarded to a beach, marina, or sustainable boating tourism operator that meets its environmental standards.

Ersoy also noted that all tourism facilities in Türkiye will have the sustainable Tourism Certificate by 2030 under the country’s national sustainable tourism program.

The minister added that there are 42 facilities which met the standards for the bicycle-friendly accommodation certificate.

“We want to have more of them. Those 42 facilities show that Türkiye has a huge potential as it is one of the most important locations on the bicycle routes.”

Ersoy recalled that Türkiye was the first government in the world to develop a mandatory national program with the GSTC, which paved the way for the country to prepare its own national sustainable tourism program.

This program, which has three stages, will be concluded by 2030, he said, noting that to date a total of 1,584 facilities have received the sustainable tourism certificate.

Türkiye is attracting visitors all around the world, thanks to very effective advertisement and PR campaigns, the minister said, recalling that in the face of strong interest in Türkiye, they three times revised upwards the targets for the number of arriving tourists and tourism revenues in 2022.

Some 44.6 million foreign tourists visited Türkiye last year, up 80 percent from 2021, while tourism revenues rose by 53.4 percent to $46.3 billion.

Meanwhile, data from the directorate general for maritime affairs showed that 116 cruise ships arrived at Turkish ports between January and April, bringing total of 122,537 passengers.

The Kuşadası port was the busiest with 55 cruise ship visits and more than 62,000 passengers, followed by Istanbul with 25 ships and nearly 34,000 visitors.