Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister, Numan Kurtulmuş is in China to boost relations between Turkey and China.
Kurtulmuş expects that China will soon become Turkey’s one of the “most important” tourism partners.
“China will become one of the most important tourism partners of Turkey in the very near future,” Kurtulmuş told reporters at the 14th China International Tourism and Travel Fair in the capital Beijing.
Turkey strives to diversify its tourists. Relatively the country is aims to attract more toursists from the Far East. In this framework, Kurtulmuş said it is Turkey’s tourism strategy to engage in promotional activities with countries such as China, India, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia.
“We hope that close relations between Turkey and China will reflect also in the area of tourism,” he said. Kurtulmuş also added that Ankara would continue to aim to increase the number of Chinese tourists coming to Turkey in 2018.
“Around 250,000 tourists came to Turkey last year. There is no reason not to increase this number to 500,000.”
Kurtulmuş had previously mentioned that Turkey was hoping to attract at least 38 million tourists in 2018.
“Gradual increase in Chinese tourists since 2002.
During his visit, Kurtulmuş also met Chinese Culture Minister Luo Shugang. Following the meeting, Kurtulmuş said that the Chinese government was notified of Turkey’s demand to facilitate the visa processes for Turkish citizens and increase the flight frequencies of Turkish Airlines (THY) to the county. He said that China offers great potential for tourism cooperation.
Minister also said that the Turkish officials expressed their intention to establish a Yunus Emre Institute (YEE) branch – a worldwide nonprofit organization of the Turkish government that was founded in 2007 – in China and their intention for the quick completion of the legal process to found the institute.
Chinese Culture Minister Luo Shugang said that the Chinese government is working to accelerate the process to establish the YEE and that visa policies were conducted as part of general Chinese visa practices. Luo also mentioned that the flight frequencies will increase in proportion with the rise in Chinese tourists visiting Turkey. He continued that the government attaches the utmost importance to cultural and educational cooperation with Turkish people.
