Turkey seeking to host 70 mln tourists by '23

ANKARA, Feb 10 (KUNA) -- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Sunday that his country is seeking to host 70 million tourists by the year 2023, which marks the anniversary of the establishment of the Republic.
Turkish news agency (Anadolu) quoted Cavusoglu as saying that Turkey had set up plans to achieve USD 70 billion in revenues from the tourism sector in the same year.
The minister expressed confidence that Turkey got the potential to generate USD 50 billion in revenues from the medical tourism sector alone in 2023.
Cavusoglu added that his country has "the finest medical facilities and doctors in the world" and provides treatment in the long and medium term, calling for the need to invest in this area.
Turkish Statistics agency noted late last month that tourism revenues amounted to USD 29.5 billion last year, compared to USD 26.3 billion in 2017.
Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism also said that the number of foreign tourists who visited Turkey last year reached 39.5 million tourists, registering a rise of 21.84 percent compared to 2017, when 32.4 million tourists visited the counry. (end) rs.mb