USA and China contribute to Turkey's target of achieving $100 billion in tourism revenue by 2028

During the "2023 Tourism Data Evaluation Meeting" held at the Istanbul Atatürk Cultural Center, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Ersoy stated that despite the "disaster of the century," referring to the earthquakes on February 6 and the Palestine-Israel war, Turkey's tourism continued to grow without slowing down.

Ersoy said, "Turkey, which managed a very successful process during the pandemic, achieved a 'record' income of $46.5 billion. In terms of the number of visitors, we rose from sixth place before the pandemic to fourth place afterward. This year, the number of tourists reached 56.7 million. We aim to set new records in 2024. We target 60 million visitors and $60 billion in revenue in 2024. With this goal, we plan to exceed the revenue target of $59.6 billion set in the Medium-Term Program."

The number of overnight stays by tourists in Turkey decreased from 10.3 million in 2021 to 9.8 million and 9.7 million in the following two years. However, the per capita nightly spending increased from $88 in 2021 to $99 and $106 in the subsequent years. The per capita nightly spending was $65 before the pandemic in 2017.

According to TUIK data, approximately 18% of the 56.7 million visitors to Turkey came from Germany.

Among the 10.3 million visitors from Germany, there were also expatriates. Germany was followed by Russia with 6.3 million visitors, the United Kingdom with 4.2 million, Bulgaria with 2.9 million, and Iran with 2.5 million.

In the last five years, the highest increase in visitors came from the United States. In 2019, 628,000 tourists visited Turkey from the United States, and by 2023, this number doubled, exceeding 1.35 million.

The most significant loss occurred in the People's Republic of China market. While Turkey attracted 475,000 tourists from China in 2019, this number dropped to 234,000 in 2023.

Target Markets: USA, Canada, and China

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Ersoy emphasized that the USA and China are target markets for Turkey.

Ersoy said, "We will increase our focus on new markets. There is the Scandinavian market. This year, we aim for growth of 23% in the Swedish market and 15% in the Finnish market. The two main new destinations are North America. We aim for a 31% growth in the US market and a 41% growth in the Canadian market. We expect a 102% growth in China."

The number of tourists from Canada, described as another target market by the Tourism Minister, increased from 53,000 in 2020 to 255,000 last year.

Mehmet Şimşek: "Our goal is $100 billion in tourism revenue by 2028"

Hazine ve Maliye Bakanı (Minister of Treasury and Finance) Mehmet Şimşek, who guides the government's economic policies, is also pleased with the developments in tourism.

Şimşek, who shared a post on social media today, stated that Turkey had demonstrated the best performance ever in tourism in 2023.

The Minister of Treasury and Finance said, "The number of people visiting our country reached 57.1 million with an annual increase of 11.1%, exceeding the year-end target (56.7 million). Tourism revenue reached $54.3 billion. According to the Medium-Term Program, with the continuation of the strong trend in tourism this year, we expect the number of visitors to reach 59.4 million and tourism revenue to increase to $59.6 billion. Our target for 2028 is to reach 82.3 million visitors and $100 billion in tourism revenue."

Bahattin Yücel: "Foreign visitor numbers are inflated"

Former Minister of Tourism Bahattin Yücel says that Turkey counts all visitors, regardless of whether they stay overnight or are transit passengers, as tourists.

Yücel, speaking to VOA Turkish, said, "After the Ukraine war, it became difficult for Russians to travel abroad. A large Russian population sees Turkey as a corridor to the West. They come and go. In addition, expatriates in European countries are included in this total. We also need to look at daily visitors. Bulgaria had 2.9 million tourists. Likewise, 1.6 million from Georgia. How many of them participated in tourism activities in Turkey? How many nights did they stay? Edirne and Artvin became day-trip tourist destinations. In my opinion, the number of foreign visitors is being shown high for a reason."

"A $100 billion tourism target is not realistic"

Bahattin Yücel, who does not find the $100 billion tourism target realistic for 2028, describes the world's economic problems and the political and military problems in the Middle East as serious obstacles ahead of Turkey.

Yücel said, "Firstly, the European market is shrinking. There is a serious expectation of an economic crisis in European countries, which are Turkey's main tourism market. Because, remember, tourists coming to us are middle and lower-income groups from Europe, and economic problems primarily affect them. Moreover, when tourists come to a country, they first look at freedoms. Then the security situation is important. And of course, justice in accordance with international norms. Turkey has a path to take in these matters. Of course, targets are set, but achieving them does not seem easy."