Turkey says China to be important market in 2018

By Fuat Kabakci

CHENGDU, China

Turkey’s Culture Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Friday China will be an important market in the coming year.

Kurtulmus said the year 2018 will be favorable as it has been declared as the “Turkey Tourism Year” in China.

He was speaking to journalists from Anadolu Agency and TRT in Chengdu province of China, on the sidelines of a session of the UN World Tourism Organization.

He added to mark the year various events will be held in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and other cities.

Kurtulmus, who met ministers from Indonesia, and Iran during the session, said his talks with them were fruitful.

“Southeast Asia and particularly China will be new markets for us in the coming year,” he said, adding that this may bring millions of tourists to Turkey.

He expressed hopes that Turkey would come out as a more important member of the world tourism organization. “We will set head offices in Istanbul or other cities.”

In an earlier statement made on Monday, Kurtulmus said that he expects 200,000 Chinese tourists to visit Turkey by the end of this year.

Reporting by Fuat by Sena Guler