Türkiye surpasses cruise passenger target

ISTANBUL

According to Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, the number of cruise ships and passengers that visited Türkiye has reached a record level in 2023.

Uraloğlu evaluated the statistics announced by the General Directorate of Maritime Affairs on the number of cruise ships and passengers anchored in Turkish ports.

"Türkiye has become a country in demand in tourism. The biggest indicator of this is the increasing cruise tourism. There was a record increase in the number of cruise ships and passengers arriving at our ports compared to last year,” he said.

The minister stated that the 2023 target of 1.5 million cruise passengers has been exceeded with 1,517,933 as of November, and said, "We expect to reach the targeted number of 1,200 cruise ships by the end of the year."

"We are working in every region of the country, and we are proud to see that our efforts are paying off," he added.

In the January-November period of 2023, 523 cruise ships and 774,884 cruise passengers arrived at the Kuşadası Port. With this number, Kuşadası Port was the most visited port and hosted the highest number of cruise passengers.

Istanbul ports ranked second with 219 cruise ships and 392,382 passengers.

Euromonitor International, a London-based market research company, and data company Lighthouse have compiled a list of the "100 best cities in the world in 2023," which includes Istanbul, Antalya and Muğla from Türkiye.

Istanbul was the world's most popular foreign destination with 20.2 million international arrivals.

Paris took the top spot on the list, followed by Dubai, Madrid, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, New York, Barcelona and London in the top 10.

Paris topped the list for the third time in a row, while Istanbul ranked 23rd, and the country's tourism cities Antalya and Muğla ranked 57th and 93rd in the list.

In the news in the Daily Mail newspaper, "Istanbul achieved a 26 percent increase in this regard compared to 2022," while London ranked second with 18.8 million foreign visitors and Dubai ranked third with 16.8 million visitors.

The world's longest tourist queues were determined from 10 million complaints made to international travel company TripAdvisor.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris, voted "Best City," topped the list with 4,799 complaints.