The embassy of Türkiye in Ashgabat hosted on 16 April 2024 an event to spotlight the tourism potential of Türkiye. This coincides with the Tourism Week of Türkiye, 15-22 April 2024.
Ambassador Ahmet Demirok said in his speech that with the opening of the summer season of tourism, the holiday organizers and facilities were ready to welcome the tourists from all parts of the world.
He said that we would like to introduce the touristic areas and attractions to help the tourists make a better choice according to their preferences.
Türkiye is one of the most visited countries in the world, and hosts millions of tourists every year with its mild climate, natural beauties, historical richness, and unique culture embracing the east and west.
Today, many different touristic activities can be carried out in every region of Turkey, based on the four seasons, he said.
The ambassador shared some impressive information:
- Türkiye ranked 4th in the world by hosting more than 50 million visitors in 2022 .
- Türkiye hosted 56.7 million visitors in 2023 and broke records in tourism with a total income of 54.3 billion dollars.
- New records are targeted with 60 million visitors and 60 billion dollars of revenue in 2024.
The ambassador said that culture and tourism issues constitute an important dimension of our cooperation with Turkmenistan.
According to official tourism statistics, 45,249 Turkmen citizens visited Turkey in 2022, and 120,928 Turkmen citizens visited Turkey in 2023, an increase of 167%.
Turkish Airlines, the airline that flies to the most countries in the world, has reached 130 countries and 346 destinations on 6 continents, undoubtedly making great contributions to our country’s tourism, Demirok said.
Starting from April 1, 2024, Turkish Airlines increased the frequency of flights on the Istanbul-Ashgabat route from 9 to 11 flights per week. Turkmenistan Airlines currently has 10 Ashgabat-Istanbul flights per week.
Ahmet Demirok said that we are continuing our efforts to launch Ankara-Ashgabat flights in the future.
Our country attaches great importance to increasing cooperation with Turkmenistan in all fields. Cultural and humanitarian cooperation between the two countries is also gradually developing — 13 agreements were signed during the official visit of Turkmenistan President Serdar Berdimuhamedov to Turkey on October 26, 2023. One of these agreements is “Cooperation in the Field of Culture.
The cultural agenda in Turkmenistan will be intense in 2024.
Cultural events were recently held in Anau city of Turkmenistan due to its status as the Cultural Capital of the Turkic World for this year. Mr. Serdar Çam, Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism from our country, attended the official ceremonies.
High level events are planned this year to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the national poet of Turkmenistan, Magtymguly Fraghi. As Türkiye, we are always ready to provide support to these events. Turkish language and Turkish culture in Turkmenistan makes us happy.
Turkish music, Turkish TV series and movies, in short, Turkish culture attract great attention from our Turkmen brothers.