ISTANBUL: The volume of trade between Turkey and Iran rose 14 percent in the first nine months of this year, the Turkish Statistical Institute has said. Trade stood at $8.1 billion from January till September, it said. Iran’s exports during the nine months amounted to around $5.8 billion. In return, Turkey exported $2.3 billion worth of goods, compared to $3.8 billion in the same period last year, indicating a 65 percent decline. Meanwhile, Turkish Tourism Minister Numan Kurtulmus said this week that the country’s crucial tourism sector should see revenues grow to $30 billion in 2018, helped by planned new incentives for tour operators and rising visitor numbers.
Increased security fears following an attempted coup and a series of militant attacks slashed Turkey’s tourism revenues in 2016 to $22.11 billion from $31.46 billion in 2015. But numbers turned around in April, thanks to a surge in Russian tourists following an improvement in relations between Moscow and Ankara. Data for the third quarter of 2017 showed a rebound of nearly 40 percent year-on-year.
“We are expecting 31.4 million visitors this year, and from that, revenue of $26 billion,” Kurtulmus told Reuters during a visit to London. In 2018, this would rise to 37 million to 38 million visitors, generating revenue of $30 billion, he said.
Turkey’s finance ministry in October predicted that tourism would generate $20 billion of revenue in 2017.Tourism has generated significant revenue for the $860 billion economy. In 2016, the government launched a plan to bolster the beleaguered sector.
