TURKISH TOURISM: 2025 IS THE SUPER EARLY BOOKING YEAR

2025 has turned into a wild ride for Turkey’s travel scene. Turkish tourism insiders stated that this year is pretty much all about booking way ahead of time. It looks like travelers—especially those from places like Germany—are locking in their trips much earlier than normal, and as a result, the early booking buzz has become more energetic every single year.

In a rather surprising twist, the early booking window kicked off back in October. Numbers tell part of the story too: overseas reservations shot up by roughly 20%, while local bookings surged by nearly 40%. Then there’s the fact that a few tremors—quite literally—with earthquakes rattling several Greek islands (Santorini taking the hardest hit) have nudged visitors away from the usual Greek getaways, steering them instead toward Turkey, where safety has become a key concern.

Meanwhile, German travelers jumped in sooner than expected. The Association of German Travel Agents mentioned that early reservation totals for classic holiday packages have grown by about 6% compared to last year. Interestingly enough, Turkey now sits at the top of a list featuring ten popular regions for summer holidays, amassing reservations around 1.2 billion euros.  Families, in particular, seem to be leaning towards all-inclusive deals. Other favored spots include Spain, Greece, Egypt, Portugal, Italy, Tunisia, the USA, the Maldives, and Bulgaria. Norbert Fiebig, who heads up the German association, remarked that travel seems to top the shopping lists of Germans this year, with many booking their summer escapes even earlier than before.

There’s more to the early booking story. Overall, we’re seeing a 15% jump in early booking, according to Kaan Kavaloğlu of the Mediterranean Touristic Hoteliers and Operators Association. He pointed out that while Germany and the UK are buzzing with activity, Russia, on the other hand, is experiencing a downturn. Domestic interest has also remained robust—Kavaloğlu casually noted that this whole early booking habit has become our new norm. “Our goal for Antalya is to hit over 18 million visitors,” he said, adding that the local hotels are built to handle that kind of crowd. Aside from a slight slowdown in the Netherlands, Germany and the UK are leading the charge, and overall, Europe seems to be doing better than last year.

There’s even talk that a new record might be on the horizon. Mehmet İşler from the Turkish Hoteliers Federation suggested that the uptick in early bookings from abroad might set a fresh benchmark, especially given the recent seismic activity on the Greek islands. Right now, Turkey holds the top spot among Germany’s top 10 summer route choices, with the Aegean region showing around a 10% growth. With the news of rising bookings from Germany, the excitement in the Turkish tourism sector for 2025 is almost palpable.