Turkey Hopes to Reel in 40 Million Tourists in 2018

Last week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan explained that Turkey anticipates 40 million visitors this year,

“We are expecting 40 million tourists this year in our country,” Erdogan said at the time of addressing a rally of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party in Antalya, Turkey’s holiday resort province in the south.

“We expect $32 billion tourism revenue, and we are proceeding quickly towards this target,” he added.

The president stated that tourist number coming to Antalya increased by 57 percent, reaching 10.5 million, in 2017. “Our target for this year is 14 million,” he added.

As Turkey welcomed 36.8 million foreigners in 2014 and 36.3 million in the next year, the number decreased hugely to 25.3 million in 2016 but increased again to 32.4 million last year, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute.

In the first two months of this year, Turkey greeted 3 million foreign visitors during its winter period, according to the Culture and Tourism Ministry.