Turkey has experienced a significant growth and change in tourism accompanied by the economic and political restructuring since the turn of the century. In 2016, Turkey received 31.3 million international tourists, with international receipts (exports) amounting to USD 22.1 billion. However, despite this positive long-term trend (up 210% between 2002 and 2014), figures for 2016 represent a decrease from 2014 when the figures for international arrivals and receipts were 39.8 million and USD 37.4 billion, respectively.
OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2018
OECD Tourism Trends and Policies
Turkey
Tourism in the economy
Tourism governance and funding
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is responsible for tourism in Turkey, with a number of directorates covering activities relating to marketing, investment, training and the conservation of heritage and assets. Turkey also has 81 Provincial Culture and Tourism Directorates. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has 46 Culture and Promotion Offices in 41 different countries, which undertake promotional and marketing activities, and cultural and art events to promote Turkey as a tourism destination. Other key ministries include the Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Development, the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, and the Ministry of Transport, Maritime and Communications. Local administrations and municipalities also have responsibilities for tourism.
Several professional institutions and private sector associations work closely with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on planning the future of tourism in Turkey and addressing specific issues. These include the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies, Touristic Hotels and Investors Association, Hoteliers Federation, Turkish Tourism Investors Association, the Tourist Guides’ Association, and the Prime Minister’s Investment Support and Development Agency. There are also many local associations throughout Turkey in the travel and tourism sector.
The overall public budget allocated to tourism sector in 2017 is TRY 493.6 million and the share of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is TRY 138.3 million. The Ministry’s budget includes TRY 20 million to support tourism investments, TRY 42.2 million for winter tourism infrastructure works, and TRY 40 million for thermal tourism infrastructure works. The Ministry also has an additional budget of TRY 28.7 million to support access to drinking water and sewerage systems in tourism intense areas.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey organises a Tourism Council periodically with the participation of both central and local government representatives and private sector representatives,
The Tourism Strategy of Turkey-2023 puts emphasis on Tourism Councils to ensure coordination across the tourism industry at national and regional levels. Tourism Councils should support efforts for further diversification and continuous quality improvement of tourism products.
Turkey: Organisational chart of tourism bodies
Source: OECD, adapted from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 2018.
Tourism policies and programmes
The most important challenge to fostering competitive, sustainable and inclusive tourism development in Turkey is to ensure that an accurate and positive impression of the country is conveyed to those who have not visited previously.
Other policy issues and challenges facing tourism in Turkey are:
Addressing seasonality of demand. As a sun and sea destination, tourism flows and occupancy levels are quite peaked, limiting profitability and the contribution of tourism to the economy,
Increasing employment, and tourism as a source for development, in the different regions of Turkey,
Improving the sustainability of tourism products, including addressing issues of climate change and use of resources,
Responding to global political and economic crises and their effect on tourism,
Improving quality and skills in tourism.
A number of actions are being pursued to address these challenges, including:
Diversifying the offer and developing more niche and special interest tourism products,
Implementing a market-oriented approach which takes account of consumer expectations,
Focusing on digital promotion and marketing,
Increasing demand from traditional and emerging growth markets,
The development of 33 National Standards and 24 Qualifications for vocational training.
The 2015-19 Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism sets out Turkey’s tourism objectives and goals regarding marketing and promotion, which include:
Enhancing Turkey’s competitiveness, market share and brand value in tourism on an international scale,
Spreading and developing tourism activities all year round and across all the regions of the country by diversifying alternative tourism types, particularly health tourism, and enhancing the quality of tourism sector.
The Tourism Strategy of Turkey-2023 supports diversification by improving the infrastructure required for specialist tourism sectors and activities, aiming to increase tourism revenues in order to generate employment and increased incomes for all segments of society with a balanced use and conservation of strategic natural, cultural, historical and geographical assets. The 10th Development Plan, for 2014-18, supports activities to enhance health tourism, winter tourism, golf tourism, cultural tourism, cruise tourism, and convention tourism.
The focus of Turkey’s destination marketing strategy is on the country’s product diversity and on motivations to travel other than sea-sun-sand tourism, seeking to spread visits throughout the year and to the regions in a balanced way.
The Ministry also focuses on growing domestic tourism, promoting cultural and touristic values to Turkish citizens by giving support to appropriate fairs and events, and aiming to make holidays available to all segments of the community through pricing strategies such as low prices during the off season. The Ministry also works in co-operation with the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB), through an “early reservation campaign” offering low prices for domestic visitors making reservations four to seven months in advance.
One of the 25 Priority Transformation Programs designed to achieve the 2023 targets and objectives as part of the Tenth Development Plan, is the Health Tourism Improvement Program. The program, which is a collaboration between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, enhances competitiveness by raising the quality of services in the field of thermal tourism. The target is to establish capacity of 100 000 beds supplying thermal tourism services to 1.5 million foreign tourists, and a revenue target of USD 3 billion. The Ministry provides investment and planning support to selected thermal tourism centres, establishing new models for development including the integration of a thermal hotel with a care centre and park.
Since 2007, the UN Development Programme and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism have worked in partnership for local economic development. Together with Anadolu Efes, a leading entrepreneurial Turkish group, the partnership is implementing the “Future is in Tourism” project. To date, 13 destinations have been selected for this capacity building project which is designed to provide local tourism actors and NGOs with the necessary guidance, tools and resources to contribute to sustainable tourism development through partnerships with public and private institutions.
The Ministry’s tourism agenda is mainly focused on competitiveness, sustainable tourism planning, keeping up with recent global tourism trends, destination based planning and marketing. Travel is constantly changing to new trends such as adventure trips, solo travel, and responsible tourism. Technology plays an important role in researching and organising the pre, during and post stages of a journey. In addition, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism attaches great importance to social and digital media as a means to promote Turkey, and also to the use of video and film.
Use of video and film media in the promotion of Turkey
Since 2014, a global advertisement and image campaign “Turkey: Home” has been sharing the life style, historical, cultural and natural values of the country through use of digital tools and multiple social media channels. 21 promotional films have been produced, including Turkish Coffee, Grand Bazaar, Two Continents, Baklava, Troy, Poetry, and Evil Eye Bead as well as the more usual destination specific films. The Global Image Campaign now has almost 7 million followers.
A themed advertisement film “Turquois” has been shown outdoors on digital screens and billboards, TV channels, and cinemas in target countries. An introductory film, taken to various festivals in co-operation with the International Committee of Tourism Film Festivals (CIFFT) was chosen as the best film of 2016 (www.hometurkey.com).
Statistical profile
Table 1. Turkey: Domestic, inbound and outbound tourism
Table 2. Turkey: Enterprises and employment in tourism
