Turkey to be fastest-recovering country in tourism: Minister Ersoy

Turkey will be the fastest recovering nation next year in the tourism sector, the country's tourism minister said on Friday.

Addressing Turkey's Innovation Week held virtually by the Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TIM), Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said the country's tourism sector will also start to increase rapidly.

He said the country performed better than its rivals in 2020 during the pandemic, built trust globally and became the most preferred country for several markets such as Russia and Ukraine.

With the safe tourism certificate program, Turkey took significant measures against the pandemic in the tourism field for protecting both foreign visitors and staff, he recalled.

Recalling that Turkey completed 2018 and 2019 with record figures in the tourism area, he said tourism is the most valuable sector for generating income and employment.

Turkey ranked in the 26th place among global services exporters, he said and added: "We should focus on how we will enter among the top 10 countries."

Turkey should make innovation for increasing its share from global services exports, he underlined.