Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy met with media representatives in Sanliurfa to participate in the Cultural Road Festival. Ersoy said Turkey has overtaken Italy to become the fourth most tourist-receiving country in the world, and is looking to broaden its tourism reach over the next 12 months. However, to take this step, the ministry is now calling for local governments to step in by drawing up a tourism master plan.
Ersoy made the remarks in a statement shortly after the opening of the Cultural Road Festival in Sanliurfa, dubbed “zero point of history.”
“The number of free public beaches will increase.”
“Municipalities and metropolitan municipalities are very important. Everyone says, ‘I brought a lot of tourists to my city.’ What did you do to attract tourists? They need to create a tourism master plan. We have started to emphasize this very much. There is no tourist city without a tourism master plan. Tourism master plans should be created primarily by metropolitan municipalities and municipalities. There is investment in infrastructure and superstructure. These are the jobs of municipalities. In total, there are only eight cities that have tourism master plans. We have persistently written letters to all municipalities. Please create a tourism master plan as soon as possible, because tourism is very popular and 81 provinces are expecting tourists. But if the municipalities do not cooperate and play their role, there is no chance that this will happen if we only push for it. “
Minister Ersoy said that the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization has already begun very important efforts in places within its jurisdiction, saying, “As the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, we have had public beaches on the agenda for five years. We have opened 15 so far. We are increasing the number of free public beaches by opening several additional beaches every year. What I am talking about here is not just the use of beaches, but clean areas that ensure that the minimum needs of civilization of the people, such as showers and changing rooms, are met free of charge. Environmental regulations are also being carried out. It is about creating an environment where services such as food and drink can be received at a fair price. Since state land is allocated through state real estate, I also consulted with the Minister of Environment and Urbanization, who said, “Any request will be immediately made available for the use of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization.” He said, “We will rapidly increase the number and facilities of free public beaches.”
Minister Ersoy noted that the Cultural Road Festival stands out for its cultural and artistic elements and in fact has several main objectives. Ersoy listed these goals as follows:
Culture Road Festival will be held in 35 prefectures
“Firstly, to give the public comfortable and easy access to culture and art. Secondly, to support both art and artists. Thirdly, it has characteristics that affect tourism, such as branding and recognition of the city in which the festival is held, especially in our country. It had a serious impact on the first Cultural Road Festival. All hotels are fully booked during the festival. There is a lot of activity in the city, and there is a lot of traffic from outside the city and neighboring provinces, but also from big cities. All flights to Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir are very crowded, with no seats available. After the first year, in the second year this traffic will increase even more. In the first year, the city calendar is set, city officials are better aware of the event and understand what is going on. It sounds good, but living it is something else. If you look at it in this context, the results are very positive. There is demand from many cities. We are also evaluating them. The number of cities will increase. “Last year there were 11 cities, this year there will be 16, next year there will be 20, and in 2028 there will be 35. “It becomes a city. By introducing citizens to the city and making them more aware, they will be more inclined to follow the culture and art.”
After 163 years, the excavation director is now Turkish.
Minister Ersoy said archaeology is also important for tourism, and that they have launched a project called the “12-Month Excavation Directorate.” Stating that in the past, excavations were carried out for 45-60 days and then closed, Ersoy said: “In fact, half of the time was spent excavating and closing. There was nothing much that could be done. We said, ‘We will switch to a 12-month excavation management system.’ From now on, the teachers will work in the area for 12 months. We will provide them with economic and financial support. Now that everything is settled, we will move on to the second phase. As you know, the name of the second phase is “Legacy for the Future.” We started with an ambitious goal. We said that in the next four years, we will carry out research equivalent to what has been carried out in our country in the name of archaeology in the past 60 years. We carried out the excavations for 12 months. We have significantly increased the number of teams and equipment, as well as funding. In some places, we have increased the amount of support by 20 times. Whereas previously excavations were conducted at his one location within the ruins, now he has excavations at 15 to 20 locations. “We do it intensively, not rapidly,” he said.
Nuri Ersoy said the excavation leaders are now Turkish, adding, “We also nationalized there. We did not stop the foreign excavation leaders. We have a certain budget and we are doing limited work. You tell us what to do and we just keep working. But we sent coordinating Turkish excavation leaders to each region. After 163 years, every place has been nationalized. This effort started in Ephesus 163 years ago. After 163 years, all the excavation sites in our country have been excavated under the supervision of the Turkish General Directorate of Excavations. In fact, if you look at it, this is an important revolution. We did not exclude foreigners either. “We said, ‘Bring your own projects too,'” he said.
Our target audience is Asian tourists.
Minister Nuri Ersoy said that in the tourism sector there are destinations that are indexed to certain products, and that Asian destinations do not come for the sea, sand and sun, or even protection from the sun. “We are now targeting Asian tourists,” Ersoy said.
It also runs a joint project with Turkish Airlines, which is expected to see rapid growth in new target destinations, one of its key takeaways. “We are targeting qualified Western tourists,” he said.
“I’ve risen to fourth in the world rankings.”
“We are now in fourth place and our goal is to get into the top three,” Ersoy said, recalling that Turkey was ranked seventh in the world when he took office. The first three means an increase of about 20 million. One of our most important competitors is Spain. There is France, which finally overtook Italy to become fourth. The rankings are always changing. They are very close to each other. We aim to get into the top three by getting 80 million visitors. “While doing this, we aim to increase both the nightly revenue per capita and its numbers,” he said.
It will be the largest archaeological excavation
Nuri Ersoy noted that Şanurfa archaeology has a history of 12,000 years and archaeological excavations have been carried out at 12 sites in both Göbeklitepe and Tashtepe, saying, “This will be the largest archaeological research ever carried out in Turkey.” They have also created a 30-kilometer route to easily visit these 12 sites. “In this way, we will definitely create awareness,” he said.
