2023 Turkish Tourism Strategy Aims For 50 Million Annual Visitors

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Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu has confirmed Turkey is still aiming to achieve its ambitious 2023 Turkish Tourism Strategy plan that will result in 50 million tourists descending on the country every year.

This will generate annual revenue of 50 billion USD, making Turkey a leading performer on the global travel scene.

The country has already seen a tremendous bounce back in 2018, after a series of incidents during previous years kept foreign tourists away. With visitor stats dropping to pre-2015 levels, there was mass concern that the travel industry had been over-optimistic.

However, the Turkish government has confirmed they are on track to achieve their target, and many destination and touristic hot-spots are seeing mass revivals in visitors.

In 2018, more than 3 million British tourists are expected to visit Turkey, especially Aegean and Mediterranean coastal holiday resorts that have historically been proven to be favoured by Brits.

The country has also cemented a growing relationship with China after it declared 2018 to be the year of tourism in Turkey. Leading officials in air travel industries of both countries are currently negotiating with an aim to increase flight schedules to cope with the growing demand.

In recent years, Turkey has enjoyed growing interest from Middle Eastern nationalities who find many similarities in culture, history, cuisine and traditions and it is already a favourite holiday destination of Russian, German and other European nationalities.

What is the 2023 Turkish Tourism Strategy?

2023 Turkish Tourism Strategy

Published in 2007, the Turkish Tourism Strategy is an in-depth action plan to make Turkey a top visited destination of the world by 2023, which coincides with the 100-year celebration of the Turkish Republic.

Breaking down into set goals, the strategy aims to market and promote every niche of travel including domestic, health, international, adventure, historical, eco, sports, city breaks and sailing.

Diversification is the key theme running through the 2023 Turkish Tourism Strategy, as the country has not only concentrated on every niche but also reached out to many nationalities from the western and eastern hemispheres.

However, a crucial part of the plan was branding which has been hugely successful particularly under the umbrella of Turkish Airlines and the Go Turkey Tourism organisation.

Granting incentives to investors, the Turkish government has also eliminated much of the red tape and bureaucratic rules that made it hard for earlier travel businesses to work.

Fast growing tourism centres such as Istanbul and Antalya have seen an overhaul of their infrastructure and transport networks to cope with increased visitors, while major touristic airports such as Dalman, Bodrum and Antalya received private funding for modernisation and upgrades.

The New Istanbul Third Airport opening in 2023 will also be one of the biggest in the world and undoubtedly contribute significantly towards global tourism and air travel.

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