Tourism industry becomes more resilient, says minister
MANISA
The Turkish tourism industry has become more resilient to crises since the country changed its tourism strategy in 2018, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has said.
Türkiye aims for 65 million visitors and $64 billion in tourism revenues in 2025. According to the government’s medium-term program, tourism revenue is targeted to be increased to $69 billion next year and to $74 billion in 2027.
Recalling that they launched the Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA) in 2019, Ersoy stated that Türkiye has become the most effective country in the world in terms of promotion campaigns.
“The key point here is increasing the revenue from per foreign tourist,” Ersoy said, noting that the revenue per visiting foreign tourist rose from $83 to $108 last year, and the target for 2025 is $117.
Health tourism
Türkiye is among the key players in global health tourism, the minister also said, noting that Türkiye generated over $3 billion in revenue from health tourism last year.
"Türkiye has an excellent healthcare infrastructure. We saw this during the pandemic. Most importantly, we have a highly trained medical workforce,” he furthered.
Ersoy announced that efforts are underway to integrate foreign tourists into the e-Nabız system, which allows Turkish citizens to track their health-related procedures and records.
A code will be assigned to tourists coming to Türkiye and through this code, the Health Ministry will be able to track the tourist just like a Turkish citizen, monitoring which fees are charged and which treatments are administered, the ministry explained.
Revenue from health tourism stood at only $779 million in 2012. After passing the $1 billion mark in 2013, health tourism revenue remained below this level in the following years, until 2018, surpassing $2 billion in 2022.
New destinations in ski tourism have gained importance due to climate change, Ersoy said.
Highlighting the southeastern province of Hakkari’s long-lasting snow season as a significant advantage, Ersoy announced that efforts have been underway for some time to integrate this region into ski tourism.
In the first quarter of 2025, visitors’ health expenditures amounted to $643 million, according to the latest official data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).
Total tourism revenues showed an annual increase of 5.6 percent to $9.45 billion in January-March, when the number of visitors fell 2.5 percent year-on-year to 8.84 million.
In the first quarter, 6.7 million foreign tourists visited the country, down 5 percent compared to the same period of last year.
