The number of international departures from Turkey is expected to increase from 10.1 million in 2018 to 12.2 million by 2023, despite recent issues affecting the macro-economic climate, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s latest report, ‘Tourism source market insight: Turkey’, notes that increasing connectivity to destinations such as Japan, the US and Europe has spurred continual growth for outbound departures from Turkey with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.67% between 2018 and 2023.

IMAGE Available: Number of international departures from Turkey, 2017-2023

Johanna Bonhill-Smith, Travel and Tourism Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “With the mass expansion project of Istanbul airport well underway, one airline in particular is attempting to capitalize on chances to increase passenger traffic over the next few years likely to spur both inbound and international departures to increase.

“Turkish airlines, the national flag carrier of Turkey has recently introduced new flights to destinations across Japan, China and increased connectivity to the US. Codeshare agreements have also formed between more destinations across the Asia Pacific such as Bangkok Airways and the Middle East with Oman Air and Kuwait Airways providing more opportunity for international travel.

“In order to attract the Turkish traveler, destinations should look to form tourism partnerships developing campaigns and to increase awareness amongst the average tourist.”

Turkish tourists are also one of the only markets where eco-centric holidays actually dominate in their typical holiday choices, with 55% of Turkish travelers claiming to venture on this in 2019 compared to only 15% of the global tourist industry.

Bonhill-Smith continues: “The domination of eco-centric holidays makes the Turkish source market rather unique and can almost guarantee that this traveler type will be attracted to environmentally focused campaigns and advertising.

“Thus, attracting this market through sustainably-focused campaigns is likely to not only increase inbound travel from Turkey but simultaneously aid the global reputation of a destination in this day and age.”