Türkiye welcomed around 49.2 million foreign tourists in 2023, a year officials dubbed the best year ever for the industry, a critical revenue source for the country seeking to curb its chronic current account deficit.
Spearheaded by arrivals from Russia and Europe, the figure marks a new peak and is up 10.4% from 44.6 million foreigners who arrived in 2022, the Culture and Tourism Ministry data showed on Wednesday.
Combined with nearly 7.5 million Turkish citizens living abroad, the number of visitors rose to 56.7 million. Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy held a news conference to announce the data. The figure is up from 51.4 million in 2022.
Tourism income also climbed 17% year-over-year to an all-time high of $54.32 billion, according to separate data by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). The tourism industry’s previous record was $46.48 billion in 2022.
Ersoy said foreign arrivals are expected to reach 60 million in 2024 before…
