The Minister of Culture and Tourism, Ersoy, promised for Haydarpaşa: There will be no hotel or shopping mall.

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Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy shared the 2024 third quarter tourism data with the public at a press conference held at the Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM). Ersoy stated that the number of visitors to Turkey, which was 30 million 518 thousand in 2017, increased to 41 million 565 thousand in 2019, 45 million 230 thousand in 2023, and 49 million 181 thousand in 2024.

NEW TOURISM STRATEGY AND GOALS

Emphasizing that they have been following a new tourism strategy since 2018, Ersoy expressed that this strategy has two main objectives. "We will now scale and develop our projects not only in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality. In addition to increasing the number of visitors, we aim to raise the per capita overnight spending," he said.

Minister Ersoy also stated that they aim to immunize Turkey against the crises it has faced and may face due to its geopolitical position, noting that this strategy has been successfully implemented. Providing information about tourism developments over the last 9 months, Ersoy announced that they have revised the year-end visitor target upwards to 61 million.

HAYDARPAŞA AND SİRKECİ PROJECTS

Touching on the Haydarpaşa and Sirkeci projects, Minister Ersoy noted that these areas were temporarily transferred to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in August 2024 and that work has quickly begun. Ersoy stated, "The idle registered historical buildings at Haydarpaşa Station will be restored in accordance with their original state. Railway transportation activities will continue at Haydarpaşa. This is very important because this area has been used as a station for 100 years." He also expressed that the buildings will be transformed into areas such as an archaeological park, archaeology museum, performing arts center, library, and exhibition halls.

GOAL OCTOBER 2026: NEW CULTURAL VALLEYS FOR ISTANBUL

Ersoy indicated that the registered structures at Sirkeci Station will be used in cultural and artistic fields such as the Migration Museum and art gallery, stating, "After the works in Sirkeci are completed, the traces of regional history on the European side of Istanbul will be passed on to future generations."

Emphasizing that the completion of the works at Haydarpaşa will bring the first cultural and art island to the Anatolian side of Istanbul, Ersoy noted that there will be no commercial structures such as shopping malls and hotels in this project. Minister Ersoy concluded his remarks by saying, "Our goal is to gift the cultural valleys of Haydarpaşa and Sirkeci to the people of Istanbul with the Istanbul Culture Road Festival in October 2026."