Türkiye's Erzurum province, which was declared the Tourism Capital of 2025 by the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO), will be hosting the Palandöken Economy Forum on April 26 and 27.
The forum also boosted interest in Türkiye's tourism sector.
According to international tourism media outlet Travel and Tourism World and the Turkish Embassy in Beijing, the Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, announced that Türkiye will achieve record-breaking growth in the tourism sector for the 2025 summer season, aiming for 64 billion USD in revenues from 65 million tourists by the end of the year.
Ersoy noted that 70% of tourists travel to Türkiye via airlines and highlighted the necessity to increase the airline capacity in accordance with the annual target of 100 million tourists and 100 billion USD in revenues.
The 2024 economic impact report of the World Travel and Tourism Council revealed that Türkiye's tourism sector broke new records on multiple key metrics, such as economic contribution, job creation, and international and domestic tourist spending.
According to the Turkish Embassy in Beijing, in 2024, Türkiye attracted 62.3 million tourists and generated 61.1 billion USD in revenues.
Minister Ersoy spoke at the "2025 Berlin International Tourism Fair" and indicated that early bookings originating from Germany and Russia are remarkable. In 2024, the top countries visiting Türkiye were Russia with 6.7 million, Germany with 6.6 million, and the United Kingdom with 4.4 million.
Türkiye has become one of the favourite destinations for Chinese tourists in recent years.
The data from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism shows that the number of Chinese tourists visiting Türkiye increased from 248,100 in 2023 to 409,700 in 2024.
According to the Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency's (TGA) data, the Chinese market was the fastest-growing among international visitors in 2024, increasing by 65.1%.
The embassy highlighted the preference of Chinese tourists towards deeper, more connected, and personalised experiences and said that interest in healthy living, sports, luxury services, adventure, local delicacies, and unexplored destinations is on the rise.
Türkiye aspires to attract 1 million tourists from China annually and double this number. For this purpose, TGA is organising special campaigns for the Chinese market.
Travel and Tourism World reports that 2025 will be a historic turning point for Turkish tourism.
The Turkish Embassy in Beijing expects that the number of tourists coming from Germany and Russia will exceed 7 million and those from the UK will reach 4.8 million by 2025.
According to Reuters, Türkiye has experienced substantial growth in passenger and cargo transportation recently, driven by investments in aviation and enhancements in airport infrastructure. Turkish Airlines (THY) aims to double its fleet to 800 aircraft in the next decade.