Silk road” International University of Tourism and Cultural Heritage Tourism Management Faculty Graduation Project Topic

Figure 3. Changes in the purpose of tourist arrivals in Turkey, 2019-2020.
Source: Turkish Institute of Statistics.
The strategy for diversifying the tourist product and extending the duration of the tourist season within the framework of the “Tourism Development Strategy until 2023” adopted in Turkey are one of the key opportunities that allowed Turkey to get into the top ten countries most visited by tourists in just a few years.
Having gained the status of a world famous beach resort due to the huge number of resorts, as well as the optimal combination of price and quality, Turkey has begun to expand its list of tourist offers. At first, these were types of tourism accompanying swimming and beach recreation, for example, yachting, diving, rafting, then excursion tours to numerous cultural and historical monuments. Further, thanks to the nature of the relief of Turkey, the active development of alpine skiing began.
Currently, the development of religious, including pilgrimage tourism is underway. In Turkey, the richness of historical and cultural monuments is such that it is of interest to tourists with different religions.
Every year Turkey is actively developing medical tourism. All accredited Turkish clinics are equipped with international-class equipment and infrastructure, while the cost of recovery in Turkey is much lower than in many Western European countries.
Based on a widespread trend among Western tourists in recent years, Turkey pays special attention to ecological tourism. In addition to the development of the country's existing national parks and the creation of new ones, Turkey began to create the so-called "ecological villages".
Major sporting events have become especially popular and often held in Turkey, including championships in various sports, for example, the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul as part of the Formula 1 Motorsport World Championship.
Every year Turkey is increasing the diversity of its tourist offer and tourist destinations, focusing on the changing needs of tourists, primarily from Europe and Russia - the main generators of demand. However, Turkey is also making efforts to capture new target audiences, including by attracting tourists from other countries. It should be noted that the largest increase in tourist arrivals in 2013 to Turkey is observed from such regions as East Asia (42.3%), South America (36%), and CIS countries (19%).
In addition to the goal of changing the country's brand, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey plans to focus on the qualitative growth of the tourist flow in the coming years. Therefore, the greatest support is received by such types of tourism as cultural, golf, business, health and ecological tourism, which will increase the costs of tourists and make their stay in Turkish resorts longer.
Due to the geological characteristics of the country, its topography and climate, natural disasters often occur in Turkey. Among these natural disasters, earthquakes bring the most harm and destruction. However, in addition to earthquakes, Turkey is also prone to floods and landslides. Natural disasters pose a particular danger, since they are not controlled by people, unlike other factors that limit the development of tourism and other spheres of life.
One of the greatest threats to the continued successful development of tourism in Turkey is the growing competition in the international tourism market. In 2013, Turkey took 46th place in the ranking of the competitiveness of countries in the field of travel and tourism, having risen by 4 positions compared to 2011. Below is a comparative table of the indicators of this index for Turkey and its closest European competing countries, to which Turkey is still inferior in all groups of criteria.