Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy stated in his presentation on his ministry's 2026 budget to the General Assembly of the Turkish Grand National Assembly that they broke the all-time 9-month revenue record this year.
“In the period January-September 2025, our tourism revenue increased by 5.7 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching $50 billion.” Ersoy said per capita nightly spending by foreign tourists increased to $116 this year.
Ersoy emphasized that this growth clearly shows the progress and stability they have achieved in “attracting qualified tourists to the country,” which is one of their main goals, noting that thanks to their work they reached 21 million 200 thousand followers on 9 different social media platforms in November.
Stating that the number of Michelin star restaurants in Türkiye has reached 17, Ersoy pointed out that this table is a strong indicator of the rise of Türkiye gastronomy and its global value.
Ersoy explained that around 19,000 accommodation establishments have received certificates or certificates for sustainable tourism, and also emphasized that Turkish tourism has now become a “manager-exporter” to the world.
Minister Ersoy explained that they have opened public beaches at 21 different points and that they plan to open seven more public beaches with free entry in 2026.
Ersoy stated that Türkiye is a leading country in this field with 780 excavations and research studies carried out annually in the country and continued his words as follows:
“As of 2025, work is being carried out at 255 excavation sites in 65 provinces. We have included our 29 excavations carried out by foreign delegations in the 12-month excavation program and appointed a Turkish excavation coordinator for each of them. I would like to express with pride that local and national Turkish archeology is conducting studies today that will shed light on the entire history of humanity. The amount of resources we have allocated for all of these have archaeological work in which more than 15,000 inventory finds were excavated in 2025 alone. “It is 3.5 billion lira.” As part of the project, we employed more than 1,200 experts and more than 3,000 employees in the first 11 months.”
Explaining that the number of assets on the UNESCO World Heritage List increased to 22, Ersoy said: “The Candidate Files of Zerzevan Castle and Mithraeum, which were included on the UNESCO Provisional List in 2020, were also submitted to the World Heritage Center for assessment in 2026. The number of assets added to the UNESCO World Heritage Provisional List has also increased to 79.” he said.
“These decisions were made through laboratory studies.”
Ersoy pointed out that the number of works whose repair and restoration was completed in the nine months of this year was 101 and that this number will be increased to 121 by the end of the year, and disclosed the following information about the restoration in the Hagia Sophia Mosque:
“With the most comprehensive restoration work carried out since Sinan the Architect, we will both protect Hagia Sophia and hand it over to future generations in the safest possible way. At this point, I consider it necessary to emphasize once again that in all our restoration activities we adhere to scientific methods and practices to prevent the structure from being damaged. “These decisions were made through laboratory studies, carrying out static calculations of all possible fixed and active loads, load tests on the floors, soil tests and Georadar scans were carried out.”
Stating that they will complete the restoration work in the old parliament and catering buildings in Hatay as well as the second phase of urban planning applications in Kurtuluş Street early next year, Ersoy said, “We have reconstructed our historic parliament building in its original form and will now functionalize it with art. I am very pleased to announce that we will bring this special building back to life as a built-in stage attached to our General Directorate of State Theaters.” he said.
Referring to the data on combating cultural goods smuggling, Ersoy said: “With the 180 works we brought back from abroad in 2025, the number of works brought from abroad between 2002 and 2025 reached 13,448. 9,000 133 of them were brought to our country after 2018.” he said.
Stating that 217 museums and 146 regulated archaeological sites provided services this year, Ersoy said: “As of the end of November 2025, about 31 million 750 thousand people visited the museums and archaeological sites affiliated to our ministry.” he said.
Noting that the number of members in the libraries affiliated to the ministry has increased to 7 million, Ersoy stated that the number of books will reach 26 million 400 thousand by the end of the year.
Stating that nearly 5 million people have visited the historical area of Çanakkale, Minister Ersoy said, “As a result of our work, we have identified 15 more martyrs' cemeteries. Thank God, 7 of these martyrs' cemeteries have been revived so far.” he said.
Ersoy pointed out the importance of the Alevi-Bektashi culture and the cemevi presidency, noting that the maintenance, repair and establishment of 515 cemevi across Turkey have been completed, of which 111 are in the earthquake zone, and that 380 related processes are still ongoing.
Ersoy informed about the activities of the General Directorate of State Theater and continued as follows:
“Our General Directorate of State Theaters, Türkiye's largest art institution, staged a total of 237 plays in the 2024-2025 theater season, of which 99 local and 138 foreign are professional and 78 of which are traditional. “We supported 97 million 216 thousand lira.”
Ersoy reported that support for the cinema industry reached 490 million 894 thousand liras.
“This is an indescribable pain”
Ersoy wished God's mercy for those who lost their lives in the fire that broke out at the Grand Kartal Hotel in Bolu Kartalkaya Ski Center and expressed condolences to their relatives. Ersoy said: “I also have two children. “As an investigative agency, we approved an investigation against our bureaucrats long before the State Council's decision.” “The statement that permission to investigate was not granted is not true,” he said.
Stating that the findings in the ministry's audit reports for 2024 were mainly due to procedural errors, Minister of Culture and Tourism Ersoy said: “Of course, it is not possible for us to distinguish between small and large errors in an authority entrusted to the state. Therefore, our relevant ministry units have been urgently instructed to eliminate the identified errors, and the procedures on this issue have reached the final stage.” he said.
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