Maritime authorities are planning to prepare three Istanbul wharfs to dock cruise ships in a bid to boost this form of tourism in the city. Turkey stands fourth in Mediterranean cruise ship tourism, coming in after Spain, Italy and Greece. However, the number of cruise ships stopping in Istanbul has risen 15 to 20 percent annually for the past five years.

According to "Today's Zaman", tourism operators in the city say cruises have brought 1 million tourists to Istanbul since 2006, but a lack of sufficient facilities for cruise ships is a restraint on this area of potential tourism growth. New docks must be built immediately to solve this problem, they say.

Presently, the docks at Sal pazar and Karakoy are used for cruise ships, and officials from the Turkish Maritime Enterprises Corp. say they are considering devoting the docks at Kurucesme, Haydarpasa and Sarayburnu to cruise ships as well. "Out of these three [potential new docks] Sarayburnu is the most appropriate. We're aiming to [prepare the conversion of the dock] in time for the start of the new [cruise] season in May. Istanbul needs seven to eight more such docks," an official said.

More than 1,000 cruise ships stop at Kusadasi and Istanbul every year. In 2005, the 227 cruise ships stopping in Istanbul brought along 231,000 tourists, and these numbers reached 340 ships and 432,000 tourists by 2007. Istanbul Culture and Tourism Regional Director A. Emre Bilgili says that tourists traveling by boat exchange more money and account for 12 percent of all tourists to Turkey.