Turkey’s tourism revenue rose 5% in the third quarter to $25.53 billion, the highest quarterly figure on record, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said.
Ersoy spoke to reporters at Turkey’s stand at the World Travel Market trade fair in London. He said tensions between Israel and the U.S. and Iran, which began in late February, hurt the second quarter, but that the damage has since been made up.
Tourism revenue for the first nine months of the year rose 2.4% to $51.28 billion, with 49.13 million visitors, he said.
“With our foreign policy under our president’s leadership, we are maintaining our position as an island of stability in the middle of a ring of fire,” Ersoy said. “God willing, we will continue to manage the process this way.”
Ersoy said Britain is Turkey’s third-largest source market, after Russia and Germany. Turkey is taking part in the fair with a 909-square-meter main stand, a 255-square-meter destination area and a 50-square-meter sports tourism section, along with 78 sub-participants.
He also pointed to the effect of regional wars on energy prices and transport costs. He said airlines’ annual fuel price hedging has kept cost increases from being fully passed on to ticket prices so far, but higher oil prices could affect air fares in 2027. He said Turkey expects an average extra cost of about $100 per ticket on flights of three hours or more.
