In an effort to draw more visitors from six countries, Turkey has extended visa exemptions to citizens of the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.
A presidential decree that was published in the Official Gazette on December 23 states that ordinary passport holders from these nations will not need a visa to enter Turkey for up to 90 days during a 180-day period when visiting for tourism.
Hotel owners in the Black Sea provinces, which are well-liked vacation spots, especially for Gulf holidaymakers, express hope that the visa waiver will draw more visitors from those countries.
The Black Sea Tourism Operators Association (KATİD) president, Murat Toktaş, told daily Hürriyet, “We are likely to see more visitors amid the visa exemption decision.”
Toktaş claims that, people in those nations “travel a lot.”
“The main impact of the visa exemption will be on travels from the Gulf countries. Holidaymakers from those nations mostly visit Istanbul and the provinces in the Black Sea region. We will probably see more tourists in those cities.”
Toktaş expects a 50 percent increase in the number of tourists from these countries visiting Türkiye.
When asked why those 6 countries were selected for visa exemptions, Toktaş explained that the Tourism Ministry’s Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA) has been focusing on marketing activities targeting specific countries.
“The visa decision could be part of those efforts,” he said.
Toktaş recalled that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Turkey had diplomatic issues with a number of Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. “However, following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to the area, Turkey began to mend its ties.”
According to him, the lack of a visa will encourage more travelers from this area.
According to data from the Ministry of Tourism, there were 784,000 more tourist arrivals from Saudi Arabia between January and November of last year, a rise of more than 70%.
127,000 vacationers from the United Arab Emirates and 57,000 residents of Bahrain traveled to Turkey in the first eleven months of 2023.
The yearly increase in U.S. tourists was 33.4 percent, totaling 1.3 million, compared to a 27 percent increase in Canadian tourists, or 237,000.
One of the biggest provinces on the Black Sea coast, Trabzon, welcomed 684,000 foreign visitors between January and October of last year, a 59 percent increase from the previous year. With 280,000 visitors, Saudis accounted for the largest group, followed by Omanis (about 60,000) and Kuwaitis (42,000).
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