Turkey establishes new agency to promote tourism

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish parliament on Thursday ratified a bill to establish a new agency to promote and further develop tourism in the country.

The agency aims to help Turkey take a larger slice of tourism revenues and it will also help boost the number of tourists.

The agency will have a 13-person board, including the CEO of national flag carrier Turkish Airlines and representatives of the public tourism sector.

The number of foreign arrivals in Turkey surged 11.3% year-on-year in the first five months of 2019, according to official data.

Nearly 12.8 million foreigners visited the country this January-May, compared to 11.5 million in the same period last year.

Russians made up 13.1% of the foreign visitors (or 1.8 million), followed by Germans at 9.5% (1.2 million), and Bulgarians at 7.7% (more than 980,000).