Turkey targets tourism revenues, a key element in its current account balance, of $13 billion this year and $18 billion next year, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.
Erdogan told deputies from his party in parliament that Turkey expected 20 million tourists to visit the country in 2005.
According to the government's IMF-backed economic programme, Turkey aims for tourism revenues of $9.8 billion this year.
The reason for the disparity between the figure in the IMF programme and Erdogan's forecast was not immediately apparent.
The country's current account deficit has widened sharply in the first months of this year, sparking market concerns about the balance of payments. Tourism is regarded as a key source of revenues to reining in the deficit.
The number of tourists visiting Turkey surged 65.1 percent year-on-year in April to 1.1 million. In the first quarter, tourism income jumped 42.6 percent to $1.71 billion.
Comments
Comments are closed.