Türkiye welcomes record 756,455 cruise passengers in first half

Türkiye welcomed a record 756,455 cruise passengers in the first six months of the year, the highest first-half total in 16 years of available data, according to the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry's Maritime Affairs General Directorate.

The figures underscore the country's continued recovery as a major cruise destination following the COVID-19 pandemic, which severely disrupted global maritime travel in 2020 and 2021.

Passenger traffic rose from 55,817 in the first half of 2022 to 482,925 in 2023 and 574,509 in 2024. The previous first-half record was 732,302 passengers last year.

A total of 488 cruise ships called at Turkish ports during the January-June period.

Kusadasi remained the country's busiest cruise destination, receiving 204 ships, followed by Istanbul with 93 arrivals.

The Aegean ports of Bodrum, Cesme and Marmaris rounded out the top five, hosting 36, 27 and 20 cruise ships, respectively.