Turkey cruising towards growing tourist trade

May 18, 2025, 1:15 PM

A cruise ship docked at the port city Kuşadası on the Aegean coast, the 'jewel in Turkey’s cruise crown'

Turkey adds new ports of call
1,500 liner berths expected
Industry targets 3m cruise tourists

Turkey is working hard to improve its appeal as a holiday cruise destination, adding new ports of call for visiting ships and developing broader itineraries to take advantage of the country’s 8,000 kilometre-long coastline and diverse historical and natural beauty spots.

With advance bookings already up on last year, Turkey’s tourism industry is bullish about posting another record breaking year in 2025.

Turkey ranks 10th in terms of global cruise tourism visitor numbers and has hopes of climbing the ladder to fifth in the coming years.

To achieve this, Davut Günaydın, cruise tourism operator and vice president of industry body the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies, says it has to expand its product range.

“Turkey is surrounded by sea on three sides and the coast is full of history with many archaeological sites,” Günaydın tells AGBI. “We must open up the Black Sea region and areas where we see fewer numbers.”

Projections suggest there will be about 1,500 liner berths in Turkish ports this year, up from 1,200 last year, between them hosting about 2.3 million passengers, a 20 percent increase on last year.

The majority of port calls will be at Istanbul, which is expected to attract up to 200 cruise ships this summer season. The jewel in Turkey’s cruise crown is the city of Kuşadası on the Aegean coast. Close to the ancient city of Ephesus, 600 or more port visits and close to 1 million passengers are forecast to land there.

The industry has made a promising start to the year, with more than 70 cruise ships berthing in the three months to March 31 and 100,000 visitors stepping ashore, despite the cooler January to March period being Turkey’s tourism off-season.

Almost 100 cruise ships docked in April alone, according to data issued by the ministry of transport this week. Between them, the liners brought 105,000 passengers to Turkey’s shores, with both figures up by more than a third on the same month last year.

Years of growing momentum has led the government and the industry to set a target of 3 million cruise tourists a year by 2028, making it a leader in the sector internationally.

Along with Black Sea destinations – already popular with Arab visitors seeking a green and temperate holiday spot – Günaydın highlights the Aegean city of Bodrum, another destination with numerous ancient sites including a crusader castle that serves as an underwater archaeology museum.

Other sites in line for expanded cruise trade are the cities of Çanakkale on the Dardanelles Strait, close to the ancient city of Troy, the battlefields of the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915 and the popular Mediterranean region of Antalya, Günaydın says.

All have the infrastructure to serve cruise ships, though as yet do not feature on many itineraries.

“These regions must be promoted well and could become alternative destinations,” he says. “There must be more sites opened up to cruise tourism.”

By expanding the range of destinations on offer, Turkey will be better able to move beyond being a port of call on cruise tours to develop an inclusive itinerary of its own, says Ahmet Yazıcı, the executive board chairman of tourism, ship management and cruise leasing firm Sea Genesis Group.

“Due to growing demand, Turkey has high potential not only as a stop but as the centre for routes itself,” he says.