Figures last year show that between the months of January-November 2019 Turkey had just under 43 million tourists visiting it’s shores, resorts, towns and cities, which was a 14.3% increase since 2018, and with foreign visitors spending on average $623 per capita during the same period, it’s no wonder that not only has this country become one of the hotspots for tour operators in 2020, but Naci Agbal, the head of Turkey’s Strategy and Budget Directorate, has also commented that Turkey has the ‘potential to attract over 75m tourists and $65bn in tourism revenue by 2023’.
Setting out it’s plans for the next few years ahead, Agbal went on to discuss that ‘the government’s 11th development plan identifies tourism as one of the strategic industries’ essentially meaning it’s one of their top priorities for economic growth and diversity. The development includes plans for more tourism activities, further improvement in services, continued improvement in infrastructure, a longer tourism season, and increasing the per capital spend where possible.
Between July-September 2019 Tourism income came to $14.03 billion, an increase of 22 percent on the previous year, so you can imagine the potentials of this figure if those ambitious plans come to fruition. Certainly from Agbal’s side there’s no doubt it can easily be achieved as ‘they have huge potential and there is much to do in this Industry’.
Helping on the way to achieve this, and showing just how far Turkey has come over the last few years is the Radisson Hotel Group, which have announced that 3 new properties will open later this year, two in Istanbul and the third in Izmir. Now with over 30 properties strong throughout the country ‘Radisson Hotel Group’s strong commitment to the Turkish market continues’ – Elie Younes, Executive VP and Chief Development Officer for Radisson.
