Sustainable recovery of tourism in Turkey in the post-Covid era

Globally, travel and tourism sector were hit hard by the impacts of the Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns. In Turkey, the total contribution of travel and tourism to the GDP was more than halved in 2020 as compared to the previous year. While the sudden stop in 2020 had a negative impact on the sector, it created a unique opportunity to redesign a more resilient long-term tourism strategy. Based on multi-stakeholder cooperation, Turkish tourism authorities build the post-Covid recovery strategy on competitiveness and sustainability while aiming at increasing the income generated from tourism activities. This conference paper analyzes Turkey’s post-Covid sustainable tourism strategy from the perspective of changing consumer behaviors, pre-and post-Covid tourism demand, and the impact of sustainability on tourism competitiveness.