Black Sea region becoming new tourist hotspot

The Black Sea region is becoming a new hot favorite of tourists looking to spend their holidays in Türkiye, attracting travelers especially from Middle Eastern countries.

With the cities in the region joining the club of tourist hotspots, Türkiye can now offer more options to foreign holidaymakers.

Among those destinations, the province of Trabzon stands out. Last year, the city welcomed more than 515,000 tourists, of which 222,000 were foreign holidaymakers. In the first seven months of 2023, 737,000 tourists visited the city.

With its nature, highlands and long seashore, the Black Sea is rising to prominence as a tourism hub, Transport Minister Abdülkadir Uraloğlu said. "This also offers opportunities to the local economy."

The airport in Trabzon is the seventh busiest on domestic routes and ranked 10th in terms of international passengers, Uraloğlu said, adding that on June 30, the airport served a record 145 airplanes.

Uraloğlu expects the tourism activity in the city to gather more momentum with the construction of a new airport.

This summer, nearly 4,000 fights landed at Trabzon Airport from Germany, Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Jordan.

The Black Sea region started attracting tourists after COVID-19, said Volkan Kantarcı, the Black Sea region representative at the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB).

"We had not seen such a strong interest in the region before," he said.

The city center and the highlands around Trabzon are bustling with tourists for three to four months of the year, according to Kantarcı. "As more tourists arrive, restaurants to hotels to souvenir shops are expanding their businesses to meet the...