Passenger arrivals via cruise ships to Türkiye skyrocketed in February, jumping over 500% compared to the last year, a top official announced on Tuesday, suggesting a new monthly record was achieved.
The arrivals surged 509.3% year-over-year to 29,826 passengers, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said.
“In February, we reached the highest number of passengers in cruise tourism in the month in question. We also broke the monthly record in January 2025. Breaking records for two consecutive months shows that Türkiye has become a strong destination in cruise tourism,” Uraloğlu said in a written statement.
At the same time, the minister said that the number of cruisers docking at Turkish ports has risen 220% compared to the same month last year, providing details on arrivals by ports.
Uraloğlu reported that 10,656 passengers arrived at Kuşadası Port in Aydin on seven cruise ships last month. He also said that 9,743 passengers arrived at Istanbul ports on four cruise ships, 8,484 passengers came to Izmir's Port of Alsancak on four cruise ships and 943 passengers arrived at the Port of Akdeniz in Antalya on one ship.
Furthermore, he noted that a total of 39 cruise ships and 62,512 passengers arrived at Turkish ports in the first two months of the year, suggesting that when looking at two-month data, Istanbul led by hosting more than a third of all arrivals.
"Istanbul ports were the places where the most passengers and ships stopped in the January-February period with 24,257 passengers and 12 cruise ships," he said.
"Izmir's Port of Alsancak with eight ships and 16,485 passengers, and Kuşadası Port with eight ships and 11,559 passengers followed Istanbul ports," he added.
Uraloğlu pointed out that Türkiye has become a preferred destination in cruise tourism on a global scale with its historical, cultural and natural riches, emphasizing that the momentum gained in cruise tourism will continue.
Following the opening of the Galataport and the lifting of COVID-19 measures, Türkiye has become one of the important stopover points for cruise tourism, according to the minister.
"In 2024, 1,195 cruise ships and 1.89 million passengers arrived at our ports. This is the highest number of passengers since 2015. We anticipate that we will break a new record by exceeding 2 million passengers in 2025," he concluded.
