Minister Kurtulmuş attends the EMITT Tourism Fair...

Minister of Culture and Tourism Numan Kurtulmuş: “God willing, we will make the best possible use of all these riches and advantages of ours. We will diversify our products, expand our markets, and open Türkiye’s door to markets we have not yet reached.”

Minister Numan Kurtulmuş: “As the Ministry, we follow the needs of the sector very closely, and we will continue to work this way going forward. By addressing the complaints of tourism investors, we have renewed the allocations for 49 years.”

Minister Kurtulmuş: “By tiering the flight support provided to tour operators and travel agencies, we have raised the support given from 1,500 dollars to as much as 9,000 dollars.”

Minister Kurtulmuş: “We have increased cruise support from 25 dollars to 45 dollars per person.”

Türkiye’s largest international tourism gathering, the 22nd East Mediterranean International Tourism and Travel Fair (EMITT), opened its doors to visitors at the İstanbul Tüyap Beylikdüzü fair grounds. The EMITT Tourism Fair, which is among Europe’s largest fairs and which this year hosts 4,800 participants from 85 countries, was opened by Minister Numan Kurtulmuş.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Minister of Culture and Tourism Numan Kurtulmuş stated that, through this fair, Türkiye would demonstrate its ambition to increase its share of the global tourism pie in the tourism sector, especially in the coming years. He said that Türkiye would find the opportunity to market its new products to the world, would show its ability to open up to new markets, and that knowledge and experience would be shared.

Speaking about the crises Turkish tourism has experienced in recent years, Minister Kurtulmuş noted that numerous events with a high potential to affect the economy and tourism had occurred one after another, and emphasized that Türkiye had gone through a difficult period and had now left that difficult period behind.

Stating that Türkiye had shown just how resilient its tourism sector is to crises, Minister Kurtulmuş noted that these crises had been overcome together with the sector and with great motivation.

“We Are Marching Toward New Targets”

Emphasizing that 2017 was a year to be proud of for Turkish tourism, Minister Kurtulmuş stated that, despite the impact of all these negative factors, Türkiye had hosted 32.4 million tourists and tourism revenue had approached the level of 26 billion dollars, and that they were now marching toward new targets.

Underlining that they had held an extremely successful tourism council together with the sector, civil society organizations, and the public, Minister Kurtulmuş said that they were continuing to work hand in hand to achieve the outcomes of this tourism council.

Minister Kurtulmuş continued as follows:

“We hope that in 2023 Türkiye will reach 50 million tourists and will have earned 50 billion dollars in tourism revenue. To this end, I wish that you, the esteemed representatives of the sector, will continue your devoted work so that we can carry these capabilities of ours even further.

I know that fairs such as this one are extremely important in terms of enhancing our capabilities in the sector and enabling the sharing of knowledge. However, especially one of the most important sources of motivation behind the leaps forward in the field of the economy is the motivation achieved collectively. We will continue our work with high motivation, in a spirit and consciousness of teamwork.”

“Reservations Are Rising”

Stating that 2018 would be a good year for tourism, Minister Kurtulmuş noted that increases of 70 percent in the number of reservations were already being seen, and that with these increases they would have a good year.

Stating that they were not engaging in mere empty propaganda of the “Come to Türkiye!” kind, Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said that the cultural accumulation possessed on Turkish soil exists in no other country.

Noting that on these lands they have the potential to introduce to the world products and opportunities that can operate in many different areas—from faith tourism to mountain tourism, from congress tourism to summer tourism and gastronomy—Minister Kurtulmuş advised tourism professionals to focus a little more on the 2018 Troia Year.

“We Will Open Türkiye’s Door to Markets We Have Not Yet Reached”

Emphasizing that Türkiye possesses more Hellenistic works than Greece does, and perhaps even more Roman-era works than Rome does, Minister Kurtulmuş said that these constitute Türkiye’s greatest riches in the field of tourism.

Adding that İstanbul is one of the world’s major hubs thanks to its transportation infrastructure, Minister Kurtulmuş stated that Türkiye has the geographical proximity to be able to host half of the world’s population in İstanbul.

Noting that Türkiye is an important geography where different cultures live in an extremely vibrant manner and where multiculturalism, a multiethnic structure, and multiple religions coexist, Minister Kurtulmuş continued his speech as follows:

“God willing, we will make the best possible use of all these riches and advantages of ours. We will diversify our products, expand our markets, and open Türkiye’s door to markets we have not yet reached.

I know that we have very valuable products to offer to people around the world who are waiting for something different, and especially to people trapped within the monotony of the great cities of the postmodern world.

We now also know that tourism has become a field of necessity rather than a field of luxury for the world. A significant portion of the world’s population wants to escape the constraints of daily life, to go to different places, geographies, and riches, to encounter them, to rest there, and to renew and refresh their minds and hearts.

Türkiye is perhaps one of the rare countries that experiences four seasons across its seven regions.”

Good News for the Tourism Sector from Minister Kurtulmuş

Also delivering good news to the tourism sector in his speech at the opening of the EMITT fair, Minister Kurtulmuş said that they had carried out the assessment regarding the renewal of allocations—a long-standing complaint of tourism investors in particular—and that, as the government, they had made the decision to renew the allocations for 49 years. Minister of Culture and Tourism Numan Kurtulmuş, who emphasized that this arrangement would breathe great new life into the sector, reported that its regulation would also be issued in the coming days.

Stating that by tiering the flight support provided to tour operators and travel agencies they had raised the support given from 1,500 dollars to as much as 9,000 dollars, Minister Kurtulmuş said that they would continue to provide this in 2018 as well.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Numan Kurtulmuş added that in cruise tourism they had both increased the number in terms of ports and, by introducing tiering in this area as well, had raised cruise support from 25 dollars to as much as 45 dollars per person.

Stating that as the Ministry they follow the needs of the sector very closely, Minister Kurtulmuş noted that they would continue to work this way going forward.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Numan Kurtulmuş held bilateral talks at the EMITT Tourism Fair and visited the stands in the fair grounds.