Türkiye has announced visa exemptions for citizens of the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, aiming to enhance tourism from these countries. The move, detailed in a presidential decree published on December 23 in the Official Gazette, allows citizens with ordinary passports from these nations to visit Türkiye for tourism purposes without a visa for stays of up to 90 days within a 180-day period.
This decision is anticipated to attract more tourists, especially from Gulf countries, with hoteliers in the Black Sea provinces expressing optimism about increased visitor numbers. Murat Toktaş, President of the Black Sea Tourism Operators Association (KATİD), believes that the visa exemption will positively impact travel from Gulf countries, particularly to Istanbul and the provinces in the Black Sea region. Toktaş expects a significant uptick, estimating a 50 percent increase in tourists from the mentioned countries.
When questioned about the specific selection of these six countries for visa exemptions, Toktaş suggested that it could be part of marketing efforts by the Tourism Ministry’s Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA), which has been targeting specific nations.
Despite previous diplomatic challenges with some Gulf nations, Türkiye has been mending ties, contributing to increased tourist arrivals. Tourism Ministry data reveals a more than 70 percent increase in tourist arrivals from Saudi Arabia in the first 11 months of 2023, totaling 784,000. During the same period, 57,000 visitors came from Bahrain, and 127,000 from the UAE.
Tourist numbers from the U.S. rose by 33.4 percent to 1.3 million, and Canadian tourists increased by 27 percent to 237,000. Trabzon, a prominent province on the Black Sea coast, witnessed a 59 percent rise in foreign tourists from January to October, with Saudis leading the visitors at 280,000, followed by Omanis at approximately 60,000 and Kuwaitis at 42,000. The visa exemption is expected to further boost tourism from these regions.
