'Turkey foresees to host nearly 52M tourists in 2019'

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey foresees to host nearly 52 million tourists this year, Turkish parliament speaker said on Friday.

In the 5th MIKTA Speakers’ Consultation meeting in Mexico city, Mustafa Sentop reminded that Turkey ranks 6th in the world in tourist numbers.

"In the light of existing datas, we foresee to end the year by hosting nearly 52 million tourists," said Sentop.

For 2023, Turkey's tourist number target is 75 million and tourism revenue target is $65 billion, he added.

In the first nine months of this year, Turkey's tourism income totaled over $26.6 billion, up 16.15% from $22.9 billion in the same period last year.

Turkey's tourism expenditure also reached $3.37 billion over the same period, according to the official data.

"We practice a new tourism model, which does not ignore ecotourism factors, while generating alternative tourism types," Sentop said.

Established in 2013, MIKTA is an informal partnership consisting of Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkey and Australia.

Turkish official urged the member states for more efforts to make MIKTA operate more efficiently.