Tourism

With a selection of archaeological ruins to rival that of Italy and Greece, 7200 km of scenic coastline, Istanbul’s unique blend of rich heritage and cosmopolitan culture, and an advantageous location at the crux of three continents, Turkey’s diverse visitor offerings have seen its popularity grow rapidly over the past decade and the country is now becoming a leading international tourism hotspot. The country ranks as the world’s sixth-most-popular tourist destination, after France, the US, Spain, China and Italy. In terms of source markets Germany remains the number one tourist market for Turkey, recording 5.2m visitors in 2014, and is closely followed by Russia (4.48m) and the UK (2.6m). The country is well on its way towards meeting many of its Vision 2023 tourism goals, including the overarching goal of welcoming 50m visitors annually. With new hotel and transport infrastructure, as well as increased government promotion of various tourism sub-segments, the sector is expected to remain healthy.