Turkey 'is a world leader for tourism'

Friday May 16th , 2008

Turkey has become one of the leading holiday destinations in the world, according to a government official.

Culture and tourism minister Ertugrul Gunay said the country attracted more than 23 million foreign leisure travellers last year, reports TurkishPress.com.

This, he stated, is up from 13 million four years earlier, which makes it the ninth-most visited country in the world in 2007.

Mr Gunay added that in terms of the amount of revenue generated by tourism, Turkey was ranked in 11th place.

However, he has called on the tourism industry to build on these figures and try to stimulate further growth in the sector.

He commented: "The number of tourists visiting our Turkey and our tourism income are not enough at all."

The government recently revealed that it wants to attract more than 50 million visitors a year by 2023.

This will be more than double the amount of holidaymakers recorded last year and should be highly lucrative for the country's economy.