Turkey’s Kuşadası enjoyed successful cruise tourism season with more than 180,000 tourists.

Kuşadası region of the Aegean province of Aydın receives highest number of cruise ships anchor annually. The port of Kuşadası region has experienced one of its best tourism seasons ever in 2019 tourism season. Kuşadası Ege Port General Manager Aziz Güngör said a total of 194 ships dropped anchor near Kuşadası, carrying 180,000 visitors to the region in 2019. The tourism authorities in Kuşadası Port is expected in 2020 to host around 500 cruise ships carrying an average of 4,000 passengers each, likely reaching a total of 2 million people. Güngör said that the dark clouds have disappeared for Turkish cruise tourism with cruise ships adding Turkey back to their itineraries after coming to a standstill in 2016 with ships cancelling calls in the country’s ports. He added that there has been a 30% growth in the number of ships anchoring in Turkey in 2019, and the number of passengers grew by 40% compared to the previous year. Kuşadası is a famous holiday resort town in Turkey and is situated conveniently close to major archaeological sites and the Dilek Peninsula National Park, one of Turkey’s most biologically diverse areas. Kuşadası is also home to some of the region’s most pristine beaches. Turkey continues its efforts to reinvigorate cruise tourism and is carrying out works to eliminate the lack of ports, particularly in Istanbul.Some 24 cruise ships were expected to arrive in the city by October, and the number is expected to reach 80 in 2020. As part of the works to boost cruise tourism, a new cruise port is in the plans in Istanbul’s Yenikapı district and the tender bidding is likely to take place soon. Besides, Istanbul’s mega port project Galataport, which is currently under construction and expected to open in March 2020, is also expected to revive the city’s cruise tourism sector.