Over 1.5 mln cruise passengers visit Türkiye last year

ANKARA

Turkish ports saw a record number of cruise ships and passengers last year, with the number of cruise ship passengers surpassing 1.5 million, according to the statistics shared by the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry.

The figures released by the ministry’s General Directorate of Maritime Affairs on Feb. 1 show that 1,192 cruise ships visited the country’s ports, with October witnessing the busiest traffic last year.

The number of cruise ship passengers surged by nearly 50 percent compared to 2022, reaching from approximately 1 million to 1.5 million.

Last year, 531 cruise ships and nearly 779,000 cruise passengers arrived at the Kuşadası Port. With this number, the Aegean resort town was the most visited port and hosted the highest number of cruise passengers.

It was followed by Istanbul's ports, which were preferred by 225 cruise ships and 402,729 cruise passengers, while the Bodrum Port in the eponymous resort town in southwestern Türkiye was visited by 97 cruise ships and 101,159 cruise passengers.

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu earlier announced that Türkiye broke the passenger figure target for 2023 even before the year concluded in November 2023.

"Türkiye has become a sought-after destination in tourism. The increasing cruise tourism is the biggest indicator of this. There has been a record increase in the number of cruise ships and passengers arriving at our ports compared to last year,” Uraloğlu said.

Türkiye’s tourism revenues increased by 16.9 percent last year compared to 2022 to $54.3 billion, while foreign tourist arrivals rose more than 10 percent to 49.2 million, separate official data showed on Jan. 31.

Tourism revenues remained below the target of $55.6 billion, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek commented.