Turkey named world's 6th most favorite tourism destination in 2019

Having hosted the highest number of tourists ever in 2019, Turkey became the sixth most visited country in the world, according to recently revealed figures by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Accordingly, it managed to welcome over 52 million visitors last year, a 14% increase year-on-year. The rate made Turkey the 14th country with the highest year-on-year growth. The new tourism strategy targets over 75 million tourists and $65 billion in tourism revenue by 2023, the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish Republic. The figures were revised from 50 million tourists and $50 billion in tourism income. Meanwhile, France remained the most-visited country with more than 90 million tourists followed by Spain and the United States, which had 83.8 and 78.7 million arrivals respectively, according to UNWTO figures. China and Italy also made it to the top five with both receiving over 60 million visitors. While the rankings in the most-visited countries list remained mostly the same, there were some surprise entrants to the fastest-growing destinations. According to Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), tourism revenues in Turkey hit $34.5 billion last year, a record high. This is a 17% increase compared with the sector's revenue of $29.5 billion in 2018. The organization cited geopolitical and social tensions, regional uncertainties such as Brexit and Hong Kong protests, and the global economic slowdown as the main contributors to the slower growth. Presenting the new figures, the body's intelligence chief, Sandra Carvao said: "This is a growth that we can consider strong because it is within the historical average, but we see a slight slowdown compared to the last two years. But it should be noted that the last two years have been really exceptional with a growth that was not normal." The UNWTO predicted global tourism will grow by 3%-4% this year, buoyed by major sporting and cultural events such as the Tokyo Olympics in Japan. The organization also cited the economic slowdown in many key issuing markets such as Germany and the collapse of Thomas Cook, the world's oldest travel firm, and of several other low-cost airlines in Europe had contributed to the slowdown in the sector last year.