by Burak Akinci
ANKARA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye's tourism sector has witnessed a fruitful year in 2023 despite the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, and the country is gearing up for more tourist arrivals in 2024 as the sector has started to heat up.
Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy told reporters earlier this month in Antalya, a popular tourist destination in the south, that Türkiye's tourism had fared well in spite of the Gaza crisis, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the disastrous earthquakes that struck southern Türkiye in February of last year.
"Despite many global instabilities, negative developments in its environment, wars, and earthquakes, Türkiye continues to steadily advance toward its goals in tourism," Ersoy said.
In a recent interview with Xinhua, Kaan Sahinalp, Türkiye's representative of TUI Group, a German travel and tourism firm, said an estimated 55-60 million foreign tourists had visited Türkiye in 2023, bringing in 50-55 billion U.S. dollars in tourism revenues.
"We expect 2024 to be even better than 2023," Sahinalp said, noting that the country aims to attract 70 million foreign visitors and generate 70 billion dollars in revenue from tourism in 2024.
"At the moment, early reservations are very satisfactory. They are sensibly higher than that of the same period in 2023," Sahinalp said.
Compared to other European tourist destinations, Türkiye is now a more affordable place to vacation due to a notable decline in the value of the Turkish lira in recent years.
Moreover, Türkiye is reaching out to the "huge South Asian and Latin American markets" that will become important for the country's tourism sector in the long run, said Sahinalp.
Kaan Kavaloglu, head of the Mediterranean Touristic Hoteliers and Operators Association, told the semi-official Anadolu Agency in December that early reservations were 20 percent higher than that of last year.
Recep Yavuz, chairman of the Tourism Working Group of the Antalya City Council, expressed optimism for the tourism industry in 2024.
"According to the information we received, early reservations for Türkiye are ahead of Spain. This means that Türkiye will most likely have one of the best seasons (of tourism) in its history," he told Xinhua.
"Our initial data suggest that reservations are on a very good track for this year. Usually, advance bookings are the sign of the sector's health, and Türkiye has a positive momentum for tourism this year," said Murat Toktas, vice president of the Turkish Hoteliers Federation.
He added that he expected the trend to continue and lead to higher figures of foreign tourists and revenue compared to 2023.
The tourism industry, which creates around 3 million jobs directly and indirectly and generates billions of dollars of revenue, is of vital importance for Türkiye's economic development as it is still grappling with economic woes such as high inflation and low foreign currency reserves.
While tourism remains one of Türkiye's most profitable sectors, it nevertheless faces a number of challenges, including a decline in the number of domestic travelers who were hit hard by runaway inflation and a weak currency.
Inflation in Türkiye increased to 64.8 percent year-on-year in December, up from 62 percent in November, the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute showed on Jan. 3.
High rates of inflation have eroded the profits of hotels and resorts because they have to pay higher wages to their employees and spend more on food supplies and car rentals, analysts say.
