Türkiye is a member of the UNWTO Executive Council (2019 - 2023)

Education and skills

(Match: Türkiye is committed to improving the quality of its tourism educational programmes to foster capacity building in tourism. The development of specific programmes to ensure the offer and demand of skills match is highlighted in the Türkiye Tourism Policy 2023)

• Trainings: Possibility to organize tailored-made trainings on the elaboration of a tourism strategy, development of tourism products, marketing strategy, promotion, etc.
• Tourism education: UNWTO.Academy can provide support in the development of tourism educational programmes / New tourism university
• Youth: Türkiye participated in the first Global Youth Tourism Summit. UNWTO can support in organization of youth development programmes on a national level, such as GYTS National and National Students League
• Human workforce development: Opportunity to support the formation of young tourism professionals through traineeship and official on-loan programmes
• QUEST: UNWTO can support destinations in the creation of DMOs and assessment of existing ones
• Organization of UNWTO Masterclasses on the topics of the meetings industry (ICCA), better tourism data analysis for better decision-making, digital marketing promotion (Google).

Improved competitiveness of the sector/diversification

(Match: Türkiye wishes to develop differentiated tourism products to extend its seasonality. Segments of interest: gastronomy, health tourism, thermal, golf, nature and cruise tourism. Health Tourism Improvement Program is one of the priorities and aims at enhancing competitiveness by raising the quality of services in the field of thermal tourism).

• Segments of interest: Support Türkiye in the enhancement of its tourism segments of interest through capacity-building activities and the exchange of best practices with other destinations
• Coastal/Maritime tourism: UNWTO x Greece Research and Monitoring Centre for Coastal and Maritime Tourism in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Potential involvement from Türkiye. 
• Health tourism: UNWTO issued the report “Exploring Health Tourism” in 2018, which aims to provide a better understanding of the growing segment of wellness and medical tourism.
• Villages from Türkiye have been two Best Tourism Villages winners: Mustafapaşa and Taraklı in 2021; Birgi in 2022

Entrepreneurship, Digital Transformation & Investments

(Match: Türkiye has a dynamic start-up ecosystem, boosted by the support of the Government and international organizations such as UNDP. Türkiye reached an important milestone in entrepreneurship when it crossed the $100 million threshold. Boosting tourism investments is also one of the priorities for Türkiye.)

• Türkiye is encouraged to actively participate in various UNWTO Start-up Competitions, the world's largest startup competitions in tourism.
• Introduce the Innovation Hubs Network worldwide.
• UNWTO can assist in developing master plans for separate regions of the country.
• Explore the possibility to provide support in the organization of an investment forum in Türkiye.
• UNWTO & fDi intelligence from the Financial Times - UNWTO Members can have limited access to world-class digital investment platforms at no cost
   

Sustainable Tourism

(Match: Türkiye sees sustainable tourism as the direction for the future and has been working on switching to a sustainable and income-driven model in tourism. Tourism Strategy 2023 and Sustainable Tourism Programme adopt sustainable tourism measures and aim to promote changes in tourism policies, private sector practices, and consumer behaviors in a way to support SDG 10, SDG 8, and SDG 13 in particular).

• UNWTO One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme:
  o    Global Plastic Initiative
  o    The Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism
• Possibility to organize dedicated and specialized trainings and masterclasses on sustainable and responsible tourism.

Tourism Strategy of Türkiye until 2023

Aims of the development plan

• Diversification and innovation of tourism activities in accordance with changing consumer trends and technology
• Extending the tourism season
• Increasing the service quality
• Attracting high spending visitors
• Increasing length of stay

The main issues and challenges

• Addressing seasonality - As a predominantly sun and sea destination, tourism flows and occupancy levels are highly concentrated in the summer season, limiting profitability and the contribution that tourism makes to the economy
• Enabling the use of tourism as a tool for regional development – Currently concentrated in key coastal and city destinations
• Improving environmental performance - of the tourism industry and by developing new products, ensuring that it is planned and developed sustainably and uses resources wisely
• Improving the quality of service skills in tourism - with particular regard to education and training of the workforce
• Responding to global unrest and economic crises in nearby countries.