Turkey's 2023 Cruise Tourism Report Card Announced

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09.05.2024

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Turkey's 2023 Cruise Tourism Report Card Announced

According to data published by the General Directorate of Maritime Affairs, 1192 cruise ships docked at 19 ports in Turkey in 2023. This figure shows an increase of 20% compared to 993 ships in 2022.

Busiest Ports and Passenger Traffic

Kuşadası was the most visited port with 531 ships, followed by Istanbul Galataport with 225 ships and Bodrum Port with 97 ships. The total number of cruise passengers was announced as 1 million 542 thousand 522, indicating an increase of 52.6% compared to 2022. The number of arriving passengers was 98,071, the number of departing passengers was 100,661 and the number of transit passengers was 1,343,790.

Cruise Traffic Month by Month

The busiest month of 2023 was October with 196 ships. In contrast, the busiest month in 2022 was August with 160 ships. The busiest ports in terms of passenger traffic were 779,434 in Kuşadası, 402,729 in Istanbul Galataport and 101,159 in Bodrum.

Least Busy Ports

In 2023, the ports with the least number of cruise ship berthing were Fethiye with 1 ship, Samsun and Kaş with 4 ships each.

General Evaluation

These data show that Turkey's performance in cruise tourism has shown a significant increase compared to previous years and that the country is increasingly preferred as a tourism destination in this field. The contribution of the cruise sector to Turkey's tourism continues to grow.