Cruise tourism experienced a record high in Turkey, which recorded the highest passenger arrivals at the country’s 18 ports in more than a decade last July, reaching 326,450 tourists: a 3.3% more than in July last year.
According to recent data published by various Turkish media, between January and July this year more than one million passengers arrived by ship in Turkey, which is not only an increase of 19% compared to the first seven months of 2024 but also the best cruise tourism figure since 2013.
The main destination port for tourists was Kuşadası – on the Aegean coast near Ephesus – which welcomed 516,930 passengers from 316 cruise ship calls (up 20% compared to last year); this was followed by Istanbul with 301,124 passengers and 127 cruise ship arrivals (up 16%), and already further away Bodrum with 67,547 passengers (up 10%), Izmir with 52,087 passengers (up 9%) and Marmaris with 22,571 passengers (up 7%).
According to official data, a total of 675 cruise ships called at Turkish ports in the first 7 months of 2025, 98 more than in the same period of 2024. Last year, Turkey welcomed 1.89 million cruise passengers in total, and by 2025 it has set a target of reaching 2.5 million cruise tourists by the end of the year, a figure that industry representatives believe will be easily achieved if the current trend continues.
The good figures for cruise tourism in Turkey have served to offset the slight drop in overall tourist arrivals: although 28.4 million tourists visited Turkey between January and July this year, the figure is down 2.1% on the same period last year, although tourism revenues grew by an all-time record 7.6%, thanks to a higher average spend per tourist.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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