2025 BLUE FLAG AWARDS ANNOUNCED, TÜRKİYE 3RD IN THE WORLD!
577 beaches, 29 marinas, 18 tourism boats, and 8 individual yachts have qualified for the Blue Flag.
The International Blue Flag Jury has announced the 2025 Blue Flag awards. This year, Turkey will have 577 beaches, 29 marinas, 18 tourism boats, and 8 individual yachts flying the Blue Flag.
The Blue Flag Program in our country was initiated when the European Union declared 1987 as the Year of the Environment. Its starting point is to protect public health and continue this with environmental education and awareness activities. It was implemented in our country in 1993.
Blue Flag beaches include 33 criteria, marinas 38 criteria, tourism boats 51 criteria, and individual yachts 4 criteria along with 16 rules of conduct. Some of the mandatory criteria for beaches include swimming water analysis every 15 days during the season, the suitability of wastewater treatment plants, the protection of sensitive natural areas, the availability of lifeguards and first aid equipment, an emergency plan, facilities for the disabled, waste separation, pet control, and environmental education and information. Corporate social responsibility, public participation, and education are also required for marinas and tourism boats.
The Blue Flag Program, coordinated by the Turkish Environmental Education Foundation (TÜRÇEV) in our country, is implemented in more than 50 countries worldwide under the coordination of the International Environmental Education Foundation-FEE internationally.
Regarding the success achieved by our country, President of the Turkish Environmental Education Foundation and Former Minister of Tourism Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdulkadir Ateş said:
"While the effects of climate change caused by human activities worldwide, the increase of plastic and other pollution in the seas, and the decrease of biodiversity on land and sea negatively affect sustainable living, tourism is one of the leading economic sectors affected. In contrast, the protection of the "natural environment" is always the fundamental element of being a center of attraction. The Blue Flag eco-label, which contains criteria for the protection of the environment and public health and is the most well-known and trusted by the public in the world, continues to play an important role in this sense. We believe that the International Blue Flag awards announced today will not only contribute to people's tourism preferences but also support the work of local administrations and businesses in the fields of tourism and sustainability. The fact that Blue Flag beaches, where environmental, health, safety, and hygiene conditions are kept at the highest level, control swimming water microbiologically, maintain cleanliness of the beach and its equipment, ensure life safety, and have many criteria related to environmental management, and that all these criteria are kept under control, are important assurance areas for the international tourism community. Our country's success in terms of the number of Blue Flags provides an important advantage in this sense.
It is difficult to obtain the Blue Flag, but it is very easy to lose it. For this, it is necessary to work continuously and put education at the forefront for the environment, nature, and sustainable living. Therefore, in addition to the beaches, marinas, yachts, and tourism boats that receive the Blue Flag Award, I congratulate those who value environmental education and awareness, see environmental education as an important issue on their agenda, and exhibit the best examples in this context, and who receive the BEST ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION and AWARENESS ACTIVITIES AWARD for their efforts.
As the Turkish Environmental Education Foundation, which has been working for 32 years with the principle that there is no human health and sustainable tourism without environmental health, we wish you a healthy and successful season with our Blue Flags waving on our coasts."
