Our Current Point in the Tourism Sector
DEVA Party Izmir Deputy Seda Kaya Ösen evaluated the tourism statistics of 2023. Ösen stated that the stated targets in tourism could not be achieved; “Unless permanent and rational solutions are brought to the problems in tourism, it will not be easy to achieve the 100 billion dollars of tourism income put forward for 2028,” he said.
2023 Goals and Realization Status
Emphasizing that the government could not meet the tourism target set as 56 billion dollars, Ösen said, “In the 2019-2023 Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 75 million tourists and 65 billion dollars of income were obtained in the 100th anniversary of our Republic. Of course, these figures are out of place right now… In the current economic instability environment, there is no hope for the figures determined in 2019, and as the Minister of Treasury and Finance, Mr. Mehmet Şimşek, said today, even the targets set for 2023 could not be achieved,” he said.
2024 Targets and TURKSTAT Data
Ösen stated that they told Minister Ersoy that the tourism target could not be achieved in the Planning and Budget Commission, where the 2024 budget negotiations were held, and said: “You remained at 54 billion dollars, you could not meet the target. We told this situation to the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, at the Planning and Budget Commission, where the 2022 final account and 2024 budget discussions were held, that they would not be able to meet the target on November 15, 2023. In his written response to us, Mr. Minister stated that there is no deviation from the targets they set, and that they will achieve the target of 60 million tourists and 56 billion dollars.
TURKSTAT Reliability and Tourism Policies
Stating that the Turkish Statistical Institute has no credibility in the eyes of society, Ösen said, “Turkish Statistical Institute, which found consumer inflation to be 64.7 percent in the last month of last year, announced that citizens’ inflation forecast was 96 percent in the study titled “Consumer’s Inflation Perception” published in January. “While this difference of up to 30 percent is obvious, no one should expect us to believe in tourism data as strictly as all the data you publish in the public opinion,” he said.
