The East Mediterranean Tourism & Travel Exhibition (EMITT) opened at Istanbul's TUYAP International Fair and Congress Center on Thursday, Anadolu News Agency reported.
Delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of EMITT, Turkish Culture & Tourism Minister Ertugrul Gunay said that the tourism sector had become one of the important sectors in the world.
Turkey has ranked the 7th among countries hosting most tourists and it ranked the 9th with respect to gaining most income from the tourism sector, Gunay said.
Tourist numbers visiting Turkey reached 28.5 million in 2010 despite global economic crisis, he said. "We aim to attract 30 million tourists to Turkey in 2011," Gunay said.
Deputy Minister of Tourism Omar Babelghaeth of Yemen, the guest country of EMITT, said that Yemen was an important tourism destination where travellers could make holiday in four seasons.
Babelghaeth added that Yemen was a worth seeing country.