Interest at fairs indicates strong tourism season for Türkiye

Two of the world's most important tourism trade shows have taken place back to back, with ITB Berlin in March and EMITT Istanbul this month bringing together international tourism stakeholders.

The fairs, which take the pulse of tourism around the world, also present general predictions for 2023, and the industry agrees that 2023 could be a record year for the post-pandemic travel industry.

The feedback from Turkish tourism professionals from both fairs also shows that there will be an increase in tourist movement from different regions for the country. Especially in the summer season, with the rise of Eastern and Northern Europe, the country is already looking forward to an active summer season.

In 2022, Türkiye took its record to a new level and achieved tourism revenues of $46.3 billion. In 2023, the country, which has set record targets for the number of foreign tourists and tourism revenues, aims to reach 60 million tourists and generate $56 billion in tourism revenues.

Firuz Bağlıkaya, president of the Turkish Travel Agencies Association (TÜRSAB), emphasized that the bilateral meetings they held at ITB Berlin, the meetings between delegations and the feedback they received from foreign travel agencies were very positive for Türkiye and said they kept their finger on the pulse of the sector at EMITT Istanbul.

"The contacts and meetings we had during EMITT showed that both the demand for our country from abroad is positive and the development of domestic tourism continues while strengthening our expectation to reach the levels we have targeted in terms of tourism in 2023," she said.

Mete Vardar, chairman of the board of directors of Jolly Tour, said that 2022 was a very successful year for Turkish tourism and that the...