More German tourists expected in Türkiye in 2024

ANKARA, March 9 (Xinhua) -- More tourists from Germany are expected to visit Türkiye this year, showed early reservations.

"Initial data looks very promising. We are observing an increase of over 20 percent in early bookings overall... We hope to exceed 7 million German visitors in 2024," Türkiye's Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said recently at a tourism trade show in Berlin, Germany.

A record 6.2 million German tourists visited Türkiye in 2023, and this number is expected to be even higher this year, said the minister.

Türkiye has been a popular tourism destination for Germans for decades. According to the German Travel Association, Türkiye has recently surpassed Spain to become Germany's top market in early bookings for summer vacation packages.

Esra Demir, a travel agency associate from the Ankara-based Sun Tours, told Xinhua that Türkiye offers a great variety of holiday options and is easily accessible from all major German airports.

In 2023, Türkiye's tourism income climbed to an all-time high of 54.32 billion dollars, compared to 46.48 billion in 2022, according to official figures.

The country's foreign arrivals also hit a record high of 49.2 million in 2023, up from 44.6 million tourists in 2022. Arrivals from Russia and Germany spearheaded the increase, the data firm Statista showed.