Cruise Tourism expected to contribute US dollars 700 million to Turkey’s economy
Experts in the tourism sector note that cruise tourism provides a contribution of US$ 700 million to Turkey’s economy, annually adding however this contribution had substantially decreased in 2016-2019 referred to as a crisis period.
Officials responsible for Turkey’s ports say this tourism branch will witness a major rise after 2020 in particular when the GALATAPORT project will go into full operation.
Same experts also point out that Istanbul has been drawing attention of cruise companies once again after a substantial contraction in cruiser tourism prevailing since 2016, based on the crisis in the sector.
The sector expects a strong recovery in 2020 and the return of the bright days to begin by 2021. The professionals in the sector believe the sector will rapidly recover in 2021 and the following few years and return to the number of ships and passengers recorded before the said crisis.
Experts also note that 2011 was the best year of the sector in terms of ship frequencies. In 2011 1,623 ships came to Turkey with 2.19 million passengers. In terms of number of passengers 2013 was the best year with 1,542 ships and 2.24 million passengers.
The sector, which closed 2018 with 247 ships and 214 thousand passengers, has welcomed 231 thousand passengers with 271 ships as of end September, this year. The forecast for the end of the year is around 320 ships with approximately 320 thousand passengers.
Istanbul alone, hosted 13.5 million tourists in 2018. This number seems to have increased significantly in 2019. In this context, the target of the city, which is a world brand in cruise tourism should be around 3 million passengers with 1,500 ships a year.
