“Hopefully, we will make into the top-five in the global tourism industry both in terms of number of tourists and turnover,” Ertuğrul Günay told Monday at a nation-wide meeting of hoteliers in Ankara.

Günay said his ministry exerted efforts to diversify tourism products and destinations, adding that Turkey became a “brand country” in the global sector.

“I am proud to tell you that the number of tourists visiting Turkey has reached today 28 million from 13 million in 2003. And now we are eyeing 30 million. This is a story of success on the part of the governments,” Günay said.

Günay rejected that tourism revenues had dropped despite increasing number of tourists, citing data by the World Tourism Organization which indicated that Turkey was one the world's rapidly growing tourism markets.