Turkey hopes to earn $100 billion from tourists by 2028

Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, the country’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, has set a goal of 90 million visitors and $100 billion in tourism revenue.

 

According to Ersoy, the Turkish tourism industry will become income-oriented, not cost-oriented, as this specific sector will see significant growth in 2023. Ersoy emphasised the need of expanding into new markets as a means of achieving the goal of attracting a larger tourist population and generating more revenues from the sector.

At the same time, the goal is to expand businesses everywhere Turkish Airlines operates, the Minister stated.

“We have created new focus markets within the scope of product diversification. We will see very serious increases in these markets. The first of these is the United States. We exceeded 1 million visitors from the U.S. last year and our goal for this year is to host 1.7 or 1.8 million visitors. In addition, we will focus on South American, Scandinavian, Gulf and Far Eastern countries. Another advantage of these countries is that they leave more money in per capita income as they come from distant destinations and their average stay is longer”, Ersoy added.

The Minister also predicted that the rapid speed trend of global advertising efforts will continue.

Istanbul is already a hip new destination, along with the TurkAegean and the Turkish Riviera, he said. Moreover, between 2023 and 2028, Turkey is set to offer a total of 20 new branded products more intensely over the globe by integrating nine more big promotional names into the program. The Minister also confirmed that specialized training will be maintained and that environmentally responsible tourism is essential for the future.

“We want to be the country that adapts to this change the fastest.

“We foresee that all of our accommodation facilities, which will reach 24,500 by 2030, will have completed the third stage sustainability criteria. Turkey is the first country in the world to enforce sustainability with a law”, he pointed out.

According to officials, all 24,500 lodging establishments will meet the sustainability standards of Stage 3 by 2030. When it comes to enforcing sustainability via legislation, Turkey is the leading nation in the world.

Ersoy said Turkey is prepared for all objectives, including expanding tourism to 81 cities in 12 months. Furthermore, there will be a total of five Turkish eateries included in the Michelin Guide by 2028 as part of the country's efforts to encourage gastronomy travel, which began in 2022 when Istanbul was listed for the first time.

 

Source: hurriyetdailynews.com