Turkey planning for 30% tourism growth from the Middle East

Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism stated Turkey is targeting an average of 30% increase in demand for tourism services from the Middle East (TradeArabiaNewsService, 05-May-2010). The Ministry stated that despite global recessionary trends and difficult market conditions, the GCC and the greater Arab region "continues to be one of our strongest markets", with demand for tourism services increasing by 30% year-on-year from the region. A million tourists from the Arab region visited Turkey in 2009 with growth from the GCC alone increasing by 16.5%. The country attracted nearly 9,000 Kuwaitis, 15,500 visitors from Saudi Arabia, and over 27,000 visitors from Morocco last year.