Turkey has recently announced that they intend to provide 90-day visa-free entry to tourists from five more European Union countries. This has come after Turkey removed visa restrictions and costs for citizens from the United Kingdom and other countries from within the European Union as part of an initiative to boost tourism in Turkey.
Hami Askoy, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry released a statement in which he confirmed: “In order to sustain unity in our visa regime toward the members of the European Union and Schengen area, Turkey has decided to exempt visa requirements for the citizens of Croatia, Ireland, Malta, Portugal and Norway.”
The aforementioned countries will be provided with visa exemption for a tourist from said country to travel to Turkey for a period of no more than 90 days in any 180-day period. The statement made confirming this, said: “This step aims at increasing our tourism potential with these countries as well as further developing our bilateral relations in other areas.”
On February 6th the Turkish foreign ministry announced that further visa regulations would be lifted for people from the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Belgium, Austria, and the United Kingdom at the beginning of this month. This visa exemption is set to also allow citizens to enter Turkey for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.
Although Turkey is already a hugely popular holiday destination, the visa exemption is expected to attract even more tourists and those looking to spend multiple vacations in the country every year.
In 2019, Turkey welcomed more than 45 million tourists. Data released showed that 20 million of the tourists travelled from the former EU member, the UK, and the other countries within the EU. In the past, all of these citizens would have paid a visa charge when landing in Turkey, coming in at around $35 per person. The removal of this charge has been done to make it easier for tourists to plan their trips to Turkey.