Turkey’s Tourism Sector Achieves Historic Results in 2025

The year 2025 entered history as a period of unprecedented success for Turkey’s tourism sector. At a press conference held in Istanbul, Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy summarized the key indicators of the sector, which is considered a “driving force” of the national economy. The published data confirm that Turkey has become not only a major holiday destination but also a powerful player in the global tourism industry.

According to the official report, approximately 64 million foreign tourists visited Turkey in 2025. This generated revenues of 65.231 billion US dollars for the state treasury — the highest figure in the country’s history.

The strengthening of Turkey’s international position deserves special attention. While the country ranked 8th globally in terms of tourist arrivals in 2017, it rose to 4th place by the end of 2024. Even greater progress was achieved in tourism revenues, climbing from 15th to 7th place, demonstrating the qualitative transformation of the sector.

Beyond “sea, sand and sun”

Today, Turkey is focusing on the development of diverse forms of tourism beyond traditional seaside vacations. As noted by Minister Ersoy, cultural, religious, gastronomic and eco-tourism are growing rapidly. The main drivers of growth include:

• archaeological research under the “Heritage for the Future” concept;
• the “Night Museums” project, which opens historical sites to visitors in the evening;
• the development of cruise tourism and ski resorts.

In 2025, tourist arrivals increased by 2.7%, reaching 63.9 million visitors, while tourism revenues grew by 6.8% to 65.2 billion dollars. It was also reported that the average tourist spending per night reached 100 dollars.

Leading markets and plans for 2026

The top three source countries for tourists visiting Turkey were Russia (6.9 million visitors), Germany (6.75 million) and the United Kingdom (4.27 million). In 2026, Turkey aims to increase tourism revenues to 68 billion dollars.