The long sandy beaches of Türkiye’s Mediterranean region are very popular with tourists. But there is much more to the country than just the coast, and in recent years cultural tours of Eastern Anatolia, which boast many impressive historical sites, have become popular among foreigners, as have diving, mountaineering and hiking holidays in border areas that were inaccessible to both locals and foreigners for decades due to the Turkish-Kurdish conflict.
According to official figures, Turkey welcomes about 64 million tourists in 2025, generating revenue of about €56 billion (about $64 billion). In terms of numbers, the country overtook Italy in 2024 and reached fourth place in the world after France, Spain and the United States.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism sector has invested heavily in comfort and safety. This year, it was expecting to surpass the 65 million visitor mark and generate approximately €59 billion. But the Israel-US war with Iran has derailed those plans.
According to tourism industry representatives, hotel reservations and tours have been canceled in Türkiye’s eastern and southeastern cities. Traditionally, many tourists from Iran have come to Türkiye for the Nowruz festival, which heralds the arrival of spring and is celebrated on the day of the spring equinox. Iranian tourists booked into hotels near the border, went shopping or visited deported relatives. But this year, hotels are empty and very few Iranians are coming to Turkey.
No booking from Iran
According to the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK), an average of 3.3 million people came to Turkey from Iran annually over the past few years. Iranians were in fifth place, following people from Russia, Germany, Britain and Bulgaria.
“Since the beginning of the war in Iran, travel from neighboring countries in the east and southeast has completely stopped. It has also stopped in the opposite direction,” said Onur Tunçdemir, head of sales and marketing at Ayanis Tours, which has been offering tours in Iran and Iraq and mainly neighboring Kurdish areas since 1997.
“In recent weeks, we have been dealing almost exclusively with cancellations and refunds of deposits,” he told DW. He said the war had an immediate impact on the local economy in the border areas.
He said the tourism sector has already suffered huge losses as a result of anti-regime protests in Iran (possibly???) In late 2025 and early 2026 but after February 28, 2026, trading has come to a complete halt. He said that coincidentally the end of Ramadan this year coincided with Nowruz, a time when there are usually many celebrations and lots of tourists.
There is no danger to tourists in Istanbul and Antalya
Kan Kavaloglu, president of the Union of Mediterranean Tourist Hoteliers and Operators (AKTOB), said there is no threat to holidaymakers in popular Turkish destinations such as Istanbul, Bodrum and Antalya, and a large number of holidays have not been canceled so far.
He said there was a sense of caution regarding bookings, particularly from Britain, but reservations from Russia and Germany had remained steady.
International consulting firm Oxford Economics recently estimated that “arrivals to the Middle East could decline by 11-27%.” [year to year] Resulting in conflict with Iran in 2026.
It said travel activity across the region and beyond has been affected. Many airports in the Gulf states are major hubs for global travel, accounting for 14% of all flights, so there could be a domino effect.
Given the fact that the conflict is ongoing, many analysts were very cautious in making predictions.
However, Mehmet Isler, president of the Aegean Tourism Enterprises and Accommodation Association (ETIK), was confident: “The Turkish travel industry is very resilient. We have survived crises such as the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. We have become very experienced in dealing with them.”
He confirmed that mass travel from Iran and the Arab world had been cancelled, but assumed that tourist flows from crisis-hit areas would shift to the safer Mediterranean, and Turkey could also benefit from this.
“The next four to six weeks will be decisive,” he told DW. “We are naturally mindful of short-term losses.”
So far, Iran has not attacked its neighbor Türkiye, which is a NATO member and EU candidate country. However, NATO air defenses shot down three missiles fired in the direction of Türkiye.
In Europe, as the Easter holidays approach, travelers are wondering which areas may be safe. On 11 March, the German Foreign Office issued a new travel warning for Turkey, advising against non-essential trips to areas bordering Iran, Iraq and Syria.
This article was translated from German.