Nearly half a million Saudi tourists visit Turkey annually

The number of tourists coming to Turkey from Saudi Arabia, the second stop of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Gulf tour, reached 450,000 in 2015, up from 342,000 in 2014.President Erdoğan's second stop in his four-day Gulf tour after Bahrain is Saudi Arabia. The largest country of the Arabian Peninsula has a population of 31 million. The diplomatic relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia date back to 1929. The two countries have consulates in addition to embassies in Ankara and Riyadh.

Saudi Arabistan, where Erdoğan payed a formal visit after Bahrain, is a country with which Turkey engages in close cooperation in many areas. The close relations are also reflected in the increasing number of Saudi tourists coming to Turkey, up from 342,000 in 2014 to 450,000 in 2015.

Bilateral relations gain new dimension

The bilateral relations of the two countries are involved in frequent high-level visits and carried out within the framework of the Joint Economic Commission, the Turkish-Saudi Coordination Council, the Business Council, the Economic forums, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Last week, the first meeting of the Turkish-Saudi Coordination Council was held for two days under the chairmanship of Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu and his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir.

President Erdoğan stopped over in Saudi Arabia during an official visit to Riyadh and Jeddah in 2015 upon the invitation of King Salman. Also, King Salman first came to Turkey in November 2015 for the G20 summit. Only a few months after this visit, in April 2016, King Salman made an official visit to Turkey.

President Erdoğan organized a press conference at Atatürk Airport State Guest House before moving to Bahrain within the scope of the Gulf trip. Emphasizing that they have established a very close and sincere business partnership with Saudi Arabia in the last two years, Erdoğan has deepened these relations in many political, military, economic, cultural and commercial areas, and has reported that they share consultation and cooperation in regional issues, especially in Syria.