An Ambitious Vision

Turkey’s new Minister of Culture and Tourism, the Hon. Professor Dr. Numan Kurtulmu, recently unveiled his strategic vision of increasing travel and tourism as the engine for improving relationships between countries and cultures.

As Turkey’s tourism begins to recover in 2017, Kurtulmu has set a target of 50 million international visitors to Turkey by 2023.

While that goal is expected to generate $50 billion in economic impact, Kurtulmu said the most valuable result of increasing tourism is forming the foundation for a stronger global community through the better sharing of ideas and values between cultures.

He observed: “Few countries have as wide a variety of tourism and cultural attractions as Turkey, including – and, perhaps most importantly – its figurative and physical position as a bridge between East and West that embraces visitors from across the globe.”

And he continued: “We see this strength as vital to our vision for bringing communities together, and we will invest heavily in public and private partnerships to ensure we are developing these tourism products to diversify our markets and audiences.”

Turkey has already made progress towards its goals this year, with tourism to the country up 14.05% during the first 6 months of 2017, and up by 36.53% in June this year compared to June 2016.

The Minister pointed out: “Turkey is one of the most diverse destinations in the world, with a richness of history, archeology, gastronomy and geography from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, combined with art and culture that spans the ages yet is at the forefront modern innovation.”

For more, go to http://www.hometurkey.com .