Turkey cruise passenger arrivals hit 12-year high

The number of cruise passengers arriving in Turkey surged to 1.71 million in the first 9 months of the year, marking the highest level in 12 years, according to official data.

10/31/20251 min read

Turkey is one of the key hubs in Eastern Mediterranean cruise tourism that benefited from a post-pandemic recovery in global travel. It has also expanded port infrastructure along its Aegean and Mediterranean coasts.

During the January-September period, 1,075 cruise ships docked at Turkish ports, up from 917 a year earlier, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported, citing data from the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry’s Directorate General of Maritime Affairs.

The total number of passengers climbed 16% year-over-year from 1.47 million in the same period of 2024.

The figure represents the strongest nine-month performance since 2013, when arrivals last peaked at 1.73 million, before declining in subsequent years and plummeting to just 1,824 during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The Aegean resort town of Kuşadası remains Turkey’s top cruise destination, having welcomed 493 ships and 825,647 passengers in the first nine months.

Istanbul followed, receiving 495,186 passengers on 207 ships, while Bodrum hosted 117,985 tourists aboard 96 ships.

Other major ports included Çeşme (45,863 passengers on 60 ships), Izmir (56,359 passengers on 31 ships) and Marmaris (45,364 passengers on 30 ships).