PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT ON OUR REQUEST FOR GREEN PASSPORTS FOR TRAVEL AGENCIES

As TÜRSAB (Association of Turkish Travel Agencies), we are making a public call for granting green passports to travel agencies, which play a key role in increasing our country's tourism revenues and positioning it as a strong international destination.

Today, while many professional groups in our country, from lawyers to exporters, benefit from green passports, a bill recently submitted to the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, covering members of the Union of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB), has been proposed. However, one of the professional groups most in need of green passports is travel agencies, which bring millions of tourists to our country every year and actively promote Türkiye in the field and on international platforms.

Travel agencies represent our country in many areas, from meetings with tour operators to destination promotions, from international fairs to business development meetings. The tourism sector contributes not only through foreign exchange earnings but also... With the employment it creates and its role in stimulating more than 50 sectors, it is one of the most strategic areas of the country's economy. Increasing the international mobility of travel agencies, which are one of the cornerstones of this structure, will directly contribute to the competitiveness of Turkish tourism.

It is an undeniable fact that a profession whose job is to organize domestic and international travel, and which cannot do its job without being able to travel freely, needs green passports more than any other profession. Therefore, as TÜRSAB, we believe that granting green passport rights to travel agencies within certain criteria is a timely and necessary regulation both for the needs of the sector and for the economic interests of our country.

In this regard, we respectfully request that the necessary steps be taken in cooperation with all relevant institutions, under the leadership of the Minister of Culture and Tourism, who himself comes from the travel agency profession.

Association of Turkish Travel Agencies
TÜRSAB