Türkiye has released its latest annual inbound tourism figures, which show it reached a new record last year with 64 million visitors and £47.6 billion in tourism revenue.
Türkiye’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, announced the country’s 2025 tourism results at a press conference held in İstanbul.
Revealing that Türkiye welcomed 64 million visitors in 2025, Minister Ersoy also confirmed tourism revenues of $65.231 billion (£47.6 billion) for the year.
Looking ahead, Minister Ersoy said: “We are aiming for 68 billion dollars in 2026.”
Just last month new data showed how Türkiye is surging in popularity amongst Irish holidaymakers – Türkiye Surging in Popularity Amongst Irish Holidaymakers, Research Shows | ittn.ie
Highlighting Türkiye’s growing global position, Minister Ersoy said the country has become a major force in international tourism, citing data from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation. He noted that Türkiye ranked 8th worldwide for visitor numbers in 2017, rising to 4th place by 2024. In terms of tourism revenue, Türkiye moved from 15th place in 2017 to 7th place in 2024, with a target of 68 billion USD in 2026.
Minister Ersoy also emphasised that Türkiye has developed strong experience and rapid reflexes in managing crises. He added that the country’s tourism offering has evolved beyond sea, sand and sun, with growing diversity across culture and faith tourism, nature and eco-tourism, archaeology, health and thermal tourism, gastronomy, congress and fair tourism, cruise tourism and winter tourism.
He stated that the ‘Heritage for the Future’ vision and Night Museum projects are among the few achievements worldwide that only a limited number of countries have successfully delivered, positioning Türkiye as one of the most successful examples in this field.
Minister Ersoy also highlighted the global success of the “miniseries” model used in Türkiye’s tourism campaigns. He revealed that a single episode of “An Istanbul Story” reached 32 million views, while even the least viewed content achieved 10 million views worldwide.
