Türkiye’s cruise passenger count in January-September reaches 12-year high

ANKARA

The number of cruise passengers Türkiye welcomed in the first nine months of the year surpassed 1.7 million, reaching a 12-year high, according to data from the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry’s Maritime Affairs General Directorate.

A total of 1,075 cruise ships docked at Turkish ports, up from 917 in January-September 2024, while the number of cruise passengers rose from 1.4 million over the same period, the data showed.

In January-September 2013, cruise passenger numbers reached 1.7 million, but the figure declined in the following years — dropping as low as 1,824 during the pandemic in 2020 — before recovering to over 1 million again in 2023.

Kusadasi in western Türkiye welcomed the most cruise ships and passengers in the first nine months of 2025, totaling 493 vessels and 825,647 passengers, followed by Istanbul with 207 ships and 495,186 passengers.

Bodrum in Türkiye’s southwest hosted 117,985 cruise tourists aboard 96 ships, Cesme in the west saw 45,863 passengers on 60 ships, Izmir welcomed 56,359 tourists arriving on 31 ships, and Marmaris along the Turkish Riviera welcomed 45,364 passengers on 30 cruise ships.