Antalya governor highlights growing Bulgarian tourist interest in Türkiye

Antalya Governor Hulusi Sahin expressed satisfaction with the strong interest shown by Bulgarian tourists in Türkiye in general, and Antalya in particular. In an interview with BTA, he voiced hope that the region could cooperate with Bulgaria in a number of areas and highlighted Antalya's potential in agriculture, trade, healthcare and education, CE Report quotes BTA.

"We are happy that Bulgarians are showing interest in our country, and especially in Antalya. To further increase this interest, we strive to welcome our guests in the best possible way and work actively towards this goal with all our partners. This includes everything from traffic and transport management to food safety, price monitoring and healthcare infrastructure. We are increasingly integrating artificial intelligence and developing AI training programmes. We keep improving our infrastructure and the quality of services. Our aim is to make Antalya a destination that is not chosen only once, but a place to which people want to return again and again," the governor said.

Tourism Ministry data show that more than 17 million tourists visited Antalya in 2025, with the number of Bulgarian visitors to Türkiye reaching 2.8 million.

"We have strong ties with Bulgaria, founded on friendship, good neighbourly relations and a robust economy. Bulgaria offers important opportunities as one of Turkiye's key trading partners and, for Antalya, through leisure tourism, health tourism, agricultural technologies and cultural events," Hulusi Sahin said.

The Governor of Antalya hosted a women entrepreneurs' forum in the Turkish resort city on June 15-18. The event brought together business representatives from countries across the region. Bulgaria was represented by nearly 30 businesswomen from the Bulgarian-Turkish Women's Business Club, chaired by Turkyan Turker.

"The gathering of women executives from 19 countries that we organize is part of our vision for Antalya's development, because such platforms are very important for international trade and the creation of new partnerships. I believe that the contacts established during the event will be transformed into sustainable projects," the governor said.

With Antalya set to host the COP31 Climate Summit, the province is stepping up its preparations not only to welcome world leaders but to serve as an example of environmental protection.

"The Antalya Governor's Office has launched the Antalya Blue Mediterranean initiative. We have a number of projects under the motto 'The Sea in Antalya Is Always Clean', within the framework of the Zero Waste initiative (an environmental project championed by Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan - editor's note). We are taking concrete steps in a broad range of areas, including coastal clean-up operations, integrated waste management, environmental awareness training and the promotion of sustainable tourism. Our goal is to make Antalya one of the cleanest, most sustainable, and most environmentally friendly coastal cities in the Mediterranean, and to serve as a global example in this regard," the governor said.

In this way, the province is working towards its goal of becoming a centre for climate diplomacy and contributing to the fight against climate change, he added.

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