Tourism targets for 2025 likely to be met, says Minister

BERLIN

Early bookings suggest that the targets of 65 million visitors and $64 billion in tourism revenues set for 2025 are within reach, Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has said.

Türkiye welcomed more than 62 million visitors and generated over $61 billion in tourism revenues in 2024.

Speaking at the travel trade show ITB in Berlin, Ersoy noted that early reservations for Türkiye from German and Russian holidaymakers are particularly strong.

Last year, 6.7 million visitors came to Türkiye from Russia, 6.6 million from Germany, and 4.4 million from the United Kingdom, the minister said, adding that he expects these countries to remain the top source markets this year.

The German Travel Association (DRV) said earlier this week Türkiye is the most booked vacation destination for this summer.

“We expect to welcome more than 7 million visitors both from Germany and Russia this year,” Ersoy told reporters at the trade show. Some 4.8 million Britons are expected to come to Türkiye in 2025, according to the minister.

He also voiced optimism that a possible end to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict will have a positive effect on the Turkish tourism industry.

“Recently, the [Russian] ruble gained approximately 20 percent in value [due to efforts to end the war]. This indicates that reservations to Turkey will continue to increase,” Ersoy said.

The Turkish tourism industry is targeting other markets, such as Asia and the U.S., he noted.

Türkiye received record number of visitors from China last year with arrivals rising 65 percent from 2023 to more than 400,000.

"We finished the last season with nearly 1.5 million visitors from America. It seems like we will see a strong increase [in arrivals] from America every year," Ersoy said.