Türkiye is expected to close this year with records in tourism, both in terms of number of visitors and revenues, a senior official said Saturday, highlighting the importance of Mediterranean hub Antalya in touristic and cultural aspects.
"Especially since last year, Türkiye has been breaking records. It has started surpassing its own records. And this year, as we approach the end, we are closing it with records both in terms of visitor numbers and revenue, hopefully," Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy told a meeting at Antalya's Muratpaşa district.
As part of his remarks, he emphasized the significance of Antalya in terms of cultural values and tourism economy, stating that the city is a priority for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
He highlighted the intense period of tourism and cultural activities in Antalya and mentioned the focus on archaeology and excavation projects, with increased budgets for various sites.
"Antalya will take the lead as the city that generates the most income in tourism. There are also great cultural events," he noted.
"Especially in 2022 and 2023, we, as the ministry, started to focus more on cultural activities. We ensure that our cultural values are revived and restored, that excavations continue intensively at our excavation sites, and that they get back to our provinces and districts, while we also support all these with events," the minister explained.
He also touched upon efforts to enhance the visitor experience by improving lighting in historical areas and encouraging tourists to explore beyond hotels, aiming for broader exploration within the country.
A record 15.37 million tourists visited Antalya, Türkiye’s major holiday hot spot, in the January-November period this year, official data showed last week.
Tourist arrivals to the city in the 11-month period surged by 16.3% from the same period in 2022, according to the figures provided by the provincial directorate of culture and tourism.
In November alone, tourist arrivals in the city rose 0.7% when compared to the same month a year ago to nearly 405,000, the data showed.
With a surge in arrivals, Antalya outperformed the number of visitors it hosted in 2019, often dubbed as the "golden year" for tourism when it welcomed some 15.28 million visitors, which marked an all-time high back then.
Türkiye aims to generate $55.6 billion in tourism revenues this year while the government anticipated 60 million foreign arrivals.
