ISTANBUL
The number of tourists visiting Türkiye is likely to increase by at least 5 to 10 percent, Türkiye Hoteliers’ Association (TÜROFED) President Erkan Yağcı has said, adding that early bookings are boosting hopes that this could be achieved.
Türkiye, which hosted a record number of holidaymakers last year, has the potential to draw up to annually 70 to 80 million tourists in the long run by focusing on certain source markets, according to Yağcı.
“What we did in the U.K. market was a success and the same could work for other countries,” he said.
“Antalya attracted only around 300,000 to 400,000 British tourists. Thanks to efforts of the Tourism Ministry and professionals in the tourism industry, the number of Britons visiting Türkiye first climbed to 1.5 million. Today, this figure rose to 4.5 million,” Yağcı explained.
Promotion campaigns and well-planning helped draw a larger number of British tourists, he added.
“We will try the same approach in other source markets, such as the U.S., Asian and European countries,” he said.
They are now focusing on France, China, Italy and the U.S., according to Yağcı.
“There is strong tourist flow from the U.S and China to Europe. We can attract some of those American and Chinese visitors to our country,” he said.
Türkiye had set targets of 61 million tourists and $60 billion in tourism revenues for 2024.
The official tourism data for the whole of 2024 has not yet been released.
The latest figures showed that the foreign tourist arrivals increased more than 7 percent annually in January-November 2024 to over 50 million.
Including Turks residing abroad, the country attracted a total of 57.4 million visitors in the first 11 months of last year.
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