As a top tourist destination, Turkey intends to focus heavily on the theme of sustainability in the coming years. “Turkey is the first country in the world to sign a cooperation agreement with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) at the governmental level,” said Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy. This envisions a three-stage plan by the end of 2030. “And by then, we will have established a 100% sustainable tourism ecosystem in our country. »
A budget of more than 200 million euros
At the same time, as part of the tourism strategy, Turkey will increase global promotional activities and focus on market diversification and branding of selected destinations and products, Mehmet Ersoy further announced. “By the end of 2028, we will have a total of nine destinations and 20 product sub-brands that will showcase our country’s entire tourism and cultural offering to the world. A budget of 207 million euros will be made available for marketing and communication throughout the territory. next five years.
Promotional campaigns on health tourism
The promotional campaigns will focus on specific areas such as faith, gastronomy and sports tourism, with particular emphasis on cycle tourism and Mice. In addition, Turkey wants to focus on health tourism and expand the tourist offer to 81 cities and throughout the year.
Turkey’s long history is an asset
Another focus of tourism is history: In order to create “archaeology-related attractions,” the country will continue excavations in the area of the oldest Neolithic site of Tas Tepeler, according to the ministry, and build new archaeological parks in Side (Antalya), Göreme (Cappadocia), Pergamon and Access Asklepion (Izmir) and on the Lycian Way.
The number of visitors is almost back to that of 2019
Turkey can expect a big increase in the number of visitors. According to the minister, more than 51.4 million holidaymakers were welcomed last year, 99% of the record year 2019. At the same time, tourism receipts reached a record value of 42.6 billion euros. euros, an increase of 19% compared to the year before the Covid.
“These results confirm that Turkey has made a great comeback after the pandemic and we are confident of welcoming around 90 million tourists to our country in 2028 and generating 92 billion euros in tourism revenue,” said Mehmet Nuri Ersoy. .
Elections in May and June 2023
In power for almost twenty years, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is given the loser in the next presidential election scheduled for June 2023 by practically all opinion institutes, regardless of his rival. This presidential election is organized concomitantly with a legislative election, but the latter is of lesser importance. Indeed, in the new Turkish political system, the President of the Republic has considerable powers which allow him to bypass parliament in the event of disagreement.
Without forgetting the economic aspects, whoever wins the next election, the president will face many challenges. The opposition platform promotes a democratization program that would restore the parliamentary system and reaffirm the rule of law in Turkey. Without however revealing how it will achieve this, the opposition plans to return power to parliament. In this case, the future Head of State will therefore have to implement a program that will lead to the weakening of his prerogatives.
