Camelot Maritime organized a “Farewell to Summer” event

Camelot Maritime, the first company to operate a foreign-flagged cruise ship in Turkey, held the “Farewell to Summer” event on the Astoria Grande Cruise ship in Sarayburnu Port.

Istanbul Deputy Governor Şevket Atlı as well as many guests attended the event.

Speaking at the Farewell to Summer event, Camelot Maritime Chairman of the Board of Directors Captain Emrah Yılmaz Çavuşoğlu said, “As we reach the end of September, we wanted to close the last curtain of the summer with our friends by organizing the ‘Farewell to Summer’ event hosted by Camelot Maritime. We have been striving to add added value to our maritime industry since our establishment in 2008. “From now on, our investments in the maritime field will continue,” he said.

Underlining that Turkey, one of the most important countries in the Mediterranean Basin, is a very important destination in terms of cruise tourism, Çavuşoğlu said, “We are a country surrounded by seas on three sides. We have virgin bays, beautiful lakes, streams and rivers. All these create an advantage for sea tourism. We must use these advantages correctly. With the investments, he said, “We must be a maritime nation, a maritime country”, as the Great Leader Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk often underlined.

Continuing his speech, Çavuşoğlu gave the following information: “We see a significant increase in the number of cruise ships and passengers docking at Turkey’s ports in 2023. Official data of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure; It shows that the number of cruise ships and passengers arriving at our ports has broken a record compared to last year. Considering the year 2023; The number of cruise passengers, which was 88 thousand 566 in April, increased to 176 thousand 840 in May, 183 thousand 407 in June and 209 thousand 33 in July.

While 341 thousand 556 cruise passengers came to our country in the May-June-July period last year, this year this number increased by 66.7% and reached 569 thousand 280 in the same period. If the increases continue like this, we expect to exceed 1 million passengers by the end of the year. “This figure is a record when we consider the history of our republic.”

After Çavuşoğlu’s opening speech, the “Farewell to Summer” event ended with music and dance performances.