Over 1 mln cruise passengers visit Türkiye last year

The number of cruise ships visiting Türkiye and cruise passengers increased significantly in 2022 from the previous month, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu has announced.

Last year, 991 cruise ships docked at the country's ports, up from only 78 cruise liners in 2021. The number of cruise passengers increased 22 times in 2022 compared to the previous year, rising to over 1 million, Karaismailoğlu said.

"Cruise tourism activity was strong last year. We saw noticeable increases in both the number of cruise ships and passengers," he commented.

The busiest month in terms of cruise tourism was October, when a total of 155 ships with nearly 207,000 holidaymakers on board visited the Turkish ports, the minister said.

The port in the popular holiday resort town of Kuşadası in the western province of Aydın took the lead among all destinations in Türkiye. Some 464 cruise ships and around 494,000 cruise passengers arrived in Kuşadası in 2022, according to Karaismailoğlu.

Galataport in Istanbul welcomed 143 ships and 220,000 passengers, while the corresponding figures for the port in the district of Bodrum were 98 ships and around 96,000 passengers, he said.

Cruise ships visited the ports in the district of Amasra and Ünye on the Black Sea coast for the first time in 2022, the minister added.

Sinop, another destination in the Black Sea, hosted 14 ships and 8,000 cruise passengers, while Trabzon, a major port in the region, received eight cruise liners and around 4,800 travelers, according to Karaismailoğlu.

"We will continue to invest to further develop cruise tourism," he said.