The country achieves a historic record with 64 million international visitors and $65.231 billion in tourism revenue.
Türkiye closed 2025 with historic figures in the tourism sector, receiving nearly 64 million international visitors and generating £65.231 billion in revenue, the highest level ever recorded. The data was announced by the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, during a press conference held in Istanbul.
‘Turkish tourism has become a global powerhouse. Our goal now is to reach $68 billion in revenue in 2026,’ said the minister.
The Spanish market stood out in particular for its strong growth. Between January and December 2025, 452,790 Spanish tourists visited Türkiye, an increase of 18.25% over the previous year. This development places Spain as one of the best-performing European markets and confirms the growing interest of Spanish travellers in the country’s diverse tourist offerings, especially in cultural, urban and gastronomic destinations.
According to data from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, Türkiye has climbed significantly in the international rankings. In 2017, it ranked eighth among the world’s most visited countries, while in 2024 it reached fourth place. In terms of tourism revenue, the country rose from 15th place in 2017 to seventh in 2024.
The minister highlighted that the Turkish tourism sector has developed a strong crisis management capacity and has managed to diversify its offering beyond the traditional sun and beach model. In this process, segments such as cultural and religious tourism, ecotourism, archaeology, health and thermal tourism, gastronomy, conferences and fairs, cruises and winter tourism have gained importance.
Ersoy also highlighted strategic initiatives such as the ‘Heritage for the Future’ vision and the Night Museums projects, which place Türkiye among the most advanced countries in the conservation and dissemination of its cultural heritage.
In the field of international promotion, the minister highlighted the success of the miniseries format, noting that a single episode of the production ‘An Istanbul Story’ reached 32 million views globally.
About the TURKEY TOURISM PROMOTION AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (TGA)
TGA operates to ensure that Türkiye is a recognised brand in national and international tourism, to promote Türkiye’s tangible and intangible, natural, cultural, biological and man-made heritage, and to engage in short-, medium- and long-term communication/marketing activities to increase the share of tourism investments in the national economy and improve the quality of service in tourism.
TGA is responsible for carrying out all promotion, marketing and communication activities to help Türkiye achieve its tourism objectives, promote and market current tourism resources worldwide, and discover, develop and make available potential tourism resources online, in line with the tourism strategies and policies developed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Source: COMUNICACIÓN IBEROAMERICANA