ISTANBUL

Türkiye saw a record number of cruise ships and passengers in the first 11 months of this year, the country's Transport and Infrastructure Ministry said on Tuesday.

"The number of cruise ships calling at our ports reached 1,167 with an increase of 19.4% compared to the same period last year, and the number of cruise ship passengers reached 1.5 million with an increase of 51.6%," Abdulkadir Uraloglu said in the press release.

He said that the 2023 target of 1.5 million cruise passengers has already been achieved as of November.

In November alone, 95 cruise ships came to the Turkish ports, up 39.7% on a yearly basis, the minister said.

The Aegean resort province of Kusadasi hosted 523 ships during the 11-month period, the minister added.