Turkish tourism industry can help in reducing current account deficit

Turkey’s tourism sector is a strategic industry that has the potential to help reduce the country’s current account deficit, particularly at a time when the Turkish lira has considerably decreased in value.The Culture and Tourism ministry of Turkey has revised its targets for 2023 from “50 million tourists and $50 billion in tourism revenue” to “70 million tourists and $70 billion.”Turkey welcomed 39.5 million foreign visitors last year, a 21.84 percent increase year-on-year, according to the Culture and Tourism Ministry,The Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Ersoy said that in order to reach the target of $70 billion in revenue, the country needs to focus on qualified tourism, accommodation capacity and qualified tourists.He said that the Tourism Master Plan has been prepared to extend the duration of the tourism season and increase per capita spending. He said that faith tourism will be given importance in this regard. “We are aware of the potential of our country in this matter and we are setting new routes for faith tourism in order to make full use of it. In this area, we will determine the target market and the masses of visitors and carry out market-specific promotional activities,” said Ersoy.