Tourism Ministry

Turkish Airlines (THY) has chosen the Hollywood superstar Margot Robbie as the new face of its advertising campaigns to promote its upcoming flight route to Australia and boost its global appeal.

The hotel occupancy rate was 68.8 percent in September, declining by 12 percent from a year ago, says Müberra Eresin, the president of the Hotel Association of Türkiye (TÜROB).

The occupancy rate also fell by 12 percent in the January-September period compared with the first nine months of 2022 to 59 percent, she added.

Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has welcomed the latest tourism numbers, saying that tourism revenues will help reduce the current account deficit.

"Tourism is booming! Türkiye welcomes a remarkable 7.1 million foreign visitors in one month, marking the best July in history," Şimşek wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Some 420 cruise ships have visited Türkiye's ports in the first six months of 2023, according to data from the directorate general of maritime affairs.

The number of cruise passengers, including arriving, departing and transit travelers, climbed from 256,000 from January-June 2022 to 483,000 in the same period this year.

The aim of the new government is to see Greek tourism industry becoming "strong, competitive and sustainable," noted new Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni, speaking at the ministry handover ceremony on Tuesday, with outgoing caretaker Tourism Minister Ioanna Dretta.

Outgoing Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias met with Hyatt Group President - responsible for Europe, Africa and the Middle East - Aguila Javier on Thursday. 

Turkish textile companies seeking to widen their global outreach are exploring opportunities in Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

A delegation from the Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporter Association (İTKİB) recently paid visits to those countries to hold talks with high-level government officials.

The Central Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will meet for the fifth time this year on May 25 to decide about the key interest rate.

Analysts expect the monetary authority to keep its policy rate - one-week repo auction rate - unchanged at 8.5 percent as it did last month.

The number of tourists flocking to Jamaica's sun-drenched beaches soared nearly 100 percent in the first three months of the year, causing long queues and hours-long waits for arriving passengers at the island's main airport.

A project is under way to make a total of 287 beaches across Greece fully accessible to people with mobility problems, including by installing the Greek-designed Seatrac system for wheelchairs and other essential facilities like parking, bathroom/changing facilities, ramps and corridors to sun loungers and refreshment bars etc.