Türkiye posts record high tourism revenue and tourist count despite geopolitical challenges

Some 64M tourists visited Türkiye in 2025 while tourism sector earned $65.2B even as region faced geopolitical issues, says sector representative

By Hatice Ozdemir Tosun

ANTALYA (AA) — Türkiye welcomed 64 million tourists and earned $65.2 billion in revenue in 2025, both figures up from the previous year despite geopolitical challenges in the region, the head of a Turkish tourism non-profit told Anadolu on Monday.

Turofed head Erkan Yagci said Türkiye is “a truly powerful tourism country in the world,” as the number of tourists grew 3% and tourism revenue surged 7% in 2025 compared to 2024.

“2025 was a year when we achieved the highest tourism figures,” he said, as Türkiye became the fourth-most-visited country in the world, according to the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

“While we’re aware of the geopolitical challenges facing our region, we kicked off 2026 with hope, and we believe we’ll close out this year with figures slightly above last year’s,” he said. “The Turkish tourism sector is a crisis-resistant business, and as long as we do our best, we will once again achieve record revenue and tourist counts.”

Yagci said the goal is to “spread tourism over 12 months and across all regions” to ensure tourists also visit the winter and off-season in addition to the summer.

“Efforts are underway in different areas like sports and conference tourism, as we aim to boost the number of tourists in winter as well,” he said, noting that conference tourism is more prominent in the winter and spring seasons, while the resort city of Antalya in the country’s southwest hosts numerous national and international events every year.

He mentioned that this year the city will hold the Antalya Diplomacy Forum 2026 on April 17–19, the 77th International Astronautical Congress on Oct. 5–9, and the UN climate change conference COP31 on Nov. 9–20.

“It is significant that such prestigious events will be held in the Turkish tourism capital,” he said.

“Antalya is also one of the top 10 cities in the world in terms of tourist capacity,” he added.

*Writing by Emir Yildirim in Istanbul

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