TÜRSAB President: Don’t be misled by those saying ‘We surpassed Spain”, let’s talk about real numbers in tourism”

Despite the severe occupancy issues in hotels, the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, claims in every program he attends that Turkish tourism is breaking records, even surpassing Spain in terms of the increase in tourist numbers. TÜRSAB President on the other hand clarified with figures that the claims of surpassing Spain in tourism are not accurate.

Bağlıkaya: “Records are being broken with revised statistics, but hotels are empty!”

TÜRSAB President Firuz Bağlıkaya stated that the perception of tourism breaking records was not true. He criticized the efforts to create a perception of booming tourism in a video he shared on social media.

Bağlıkaya pointed out that, according to World Tourism Organization figures, Spain, with a population of 49 million, had hosted 85 million tourists last year, while Turkey, with a population of 85 million, hosted 49 million foreign tourists. He added, “Don’t be misled by those saying we’ve surpassed Spain. We have a long way to go. Let’s talk about the real numbers in tourism now.”