Tourism targets set for 2022 may exceed: Minister

ORDU

Türkiye is likely to attract more foreign tourists and generate more tourism revenues than foreseen in revised targets set for 2022, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has said.

“As of end-September, it has been a very good season. Bookings for October across the country are going very well. I predict that the number of tourists and revenue generated will be above the targets,” he said, addressing a gathering with non-governmental organizations in the province of Ordu.

The minister recalled that the revised targets for 2022 forecast 47 million foreign tourists and $37 billion in tourism revenues.

“We are making plans for 2023 and even for 2028. I do not expect problems for tourism activities,” Ersoy said.

Ersoy also said the tourism industry faced the biggest challenges ever during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Thanks to measures we have taken, the tourism industry in Türkey recorded the lowest contraction and fastest rebound compared to its competitors. We have recorded strong growth rates both last year and this year,” the minister said.

Other nations revised their tourism targets downwards because of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but Türkiye did not do that, on the contrary, it revised its targets upwards, he added.

“I do not see any problems meeting those 47 million tourist and $37 billion revenue targets.”

Türkiye has changed the league it plays in the tourism industry, according to Ersoy. “Now, in the Mediterranean basin, we aim to become one of the countries in this league, which hosts high-income tourists,” the minister furthered.

He noted that overnight expenditure, which plunged during the pandemic, has increased significantly.

According to the latest data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), the average expenditure per night was $78 in the second quarter of 2022, up from $68 in the first quarter and higher than $57 in the second quarter of 2021.

In January-August, 29.3 million foreign tourists visited Türkiye, up more than 108 percent compared to the same period of 2021.

In August alone, the country welcomed 6.3 million international holidaymakers. The corresponding figures for the same month of 2020 and 2021 were 1.8 million and 3.98 million, respectively.

More than 12 million tourists have entered the province of Antalya, on the Mediterranean coast, through the city’s airport since the start of the year, marking a 51 percent increase from a year ago, local authorities reported. Between Oct. 1 and Oct. 16, 1 million foreign tourists arrived in Antalya.

Last year, 24.7 million foreign tourists visited Türkiye, and the country’s tourism revenues amounted to $24.5 billion.