Türkiye hosts 1.7 million cruise passengers in January-October

Türkiye hosted 1.7 million cruise passengers in the first 10 months of the year, the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry has announced.

While the number of passengers increased by 26.8 percent, the number of cruise ships arriving in Türkiye rose by 3.7 percent to 1,112 compared to the same period last year.

The Port of Kuşadası in southwestern Türkiye received 501 cruise ships and 791,300 passengers in the January-October period, becoming the busiest port in the country.

Ports in Istanbul received 184 ships with 402,226 passengers, while the cruise port in the southwestern resort town Bodrum saw 92 boats, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said.

Meanwhile, ports in the southwestern province of İzmir hosted 153,369 cruise passengers.

As for October, some 295,892 cruise passengers with 195 ships arrived in Türkiye.

Port of Kuşadası hosted 137,898 cruise passengers, followed by Istanbul ports with 64,509 passengers and İzmir ports with 24,508.

"We continue our work to maximize the tourism potential of our peninsular country, and transportation and tourism are the two essential sectors for the economic and social development of Türkiye," the minister said.

Last year, 1,192 cruise ships visited Türkiye, bringing 1.54 million passengers, up from 993 cruise ships and 1.01 million passengers in 2022.