Mustafa Özkaya has been appointed as the Director, UK & Ireland, of the Turkish Tourism Board with immediate effect.
Mr Özkaya will be based at the Turkish Office of Culture and Information in London, and will be responsible for leading all tourism promotional activities for Türkiye in the UK and Ireland.
His role includes overseeing travel industry engagement, marketing and communications, media buying and governmental liaison.
Before joining the Ministry of Tourism, Mr Özkaya was at Al Jazeera, where he was Director of the Program Department, and at Anadolu – the leading Turkish news agency, where he was Deputy Director General.
Mustafa Özkaya said: “The UK and Ireland is a market of enormous strategic importance to Türkiye, with visitor numbers growing rapidly every year.
“Our travel industry partners are an integral part of this success story, creating flight and holiday programmes from points across the UK and Ireland; engaging and supporting them will be an early priority for me.”
Later this month, Türkiye hosts ABTA’s annual Travel Convention, in Bodrum from 30th October – 2nd November.
2023 is a landmark year for Türkiye as the country celebrates the 100th anniversary of foundation of the Republic.
In addition, the first phase of Türkiye’s sustainability programme with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council has become operational this year, with over 6,000 accommodation facilities now receiving sustainability certificates.
This landmark programme is accelerating the country’s global sustainability practices and restructuring the Turkish Tourism industry with a comprehensive three-year agreement.
Mustafa Özkaya holds a Doctorate in International Relations from Marmara University in Istanbul.
