Turkey aims to attract 33 mln tourists in 2013

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

The number of tourists visiting Turkey will increase to 33 million next year, Basaran Ulusoy, the chairman of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB), has estimated.

Ulusoy told Anatolia news agency that tourism revenues were expected to be around $25.5 billion in 2013 and the most visited places would be the southern province of Antalya followed by Istanbul, the Aegean provinces of Muğla and Aydın and Cappadocia.

“Although 2012 was a difficult year for the world and our country in terms of economic issues, we haven’t experienced sharp decreases in the tourism sector,” said Ulusoy regarding the 2.4 percent drop in the number of foreign tourists in the January-October period of 2012 compared to the previous period.