In May, which is considered the beginning of the summer season, the number of large ships docking at ports surged by 14.2% to reach 169. The number of passengers arriving with these ships recorded a growth of 10.8%, totaling 257,897. This momentum has opened the door to a new era in maritime tourism, marking the highest May performance in the last 14 years. When looking at the total for the first five months of the year, the number of hosted passengers reached 455,580.

KUŞADASI MAINTAINS ITS LEAD IN RECORDS

Turkey's flagship in cruise tourism remained the gateway to the world in the Aegean during this period. The centers and passenger traffic that shouldered the burden of the ports in the first five months occurred as follows:

Kuşadası Port: The sole owner of the peak with 129 ship calls and 189,141 passengers.

Istanbul Ports: Hosting 66 ships and 115,323 passengers, securing the second place.

Izmir Alsancak Port: Maintaining third place with 26 ships and 51,202 passengers.

TOURISM PARADIGM SHIFTING TO UPPER SEGMENT

This resurgence in cruise tourism does not only mean an increase in passenger numbers; it also indicates that a high-spending, quality tourist group has remained loyal to Turkey's routes. Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu evaluated this upward trend in maritime tourism with the following words: 'The number of cruise ships calling at our ports in May increased by 14.2% compared to the same month last year, reaching 169, while the number of cruise passengers rose by 10.8% to 257,897. Thus, we achieved the highest number of cruise ships and passengers in May in the last 14 years. Our growth trend has also continued steadily in the January-May period of 2026.'

Source: SeaNews Türkiye