Turkey’s tourism revenues hit $54.3 billion last year

Tourism revenues remained below the target of $55.6 billion, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek commented.

“In line with the forecasts in the medium-term program, we expect the number of visitors to increase to 59.4 million and tourism revenue to $59.6 billion this year, as the tourism industry’s strong performance continues in 2024,” Şimşek wrote on X.

While individual expenditures constituted $41 billion of the total tourism income, another $13.25 billion came from package tour expenditures, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said.

The average per capita expenditure of visiting tourists was $952 in 2023, up from $905 in the previous year. The average expenditure per night rose nearly 12 percent from 2022 to $99.

Tourists’ food expenditure increased by 33.2 percent compared to 2022, while the increase in accommodation expenditure was 27 percent.

International transport costs were up 22.2 percent, according to the TÜİK data. Transport expenditure inside Turkey rose by 11.9 percent.

Some 5 percent of tourists visited Turkey for shopping, according to the data. Visitors spent $6.45 billion on clothing and shows and another $1.49 billion on souvenirs.

In the final quarter of 2023, tourism revenues were up 6.8 percent from a year ago to amount to $12.7 billion.

Turkey’s tourism expenditure, on the other hand, leaped 65.3 percent last year from 2022 to $7.1 billion, TÜİK also said, noting that per capita average spending rose 8.5 percent to $639.

49 million foreign tourists

Last year, 49.2 million foreign tourists visited Turkey, up 10.2 percent from 2022, separate data from the Tourism Ministry showed on Jan. 31.

Including Turkish citizens residing abroad, Turkey welcomed 56.7 million visitors.

Russians and Germans constituted the largest groups of foreign holidaymakers.

In 2023, more than 6.3 million Russians visited the country, up from 5.23 million in 2022, while the number of German tourists increased from 5.7 million in 2022 to 6.2 million.

Tourist arrivals from the U.K. rose 13 percent to 3.8 million.

Despite the ongoing war, the number of Ukrainians visiting Turkey increased by more than 23 percent compared to 2022 to 839,729. In 2021, more than 2 million Ukrainians vacationed in the country.

Turkey also welcomed 2.89 million Bulgarian nationals and 2.5 million Iranian tourists last year. Bulgarians mostly visit the Turkish provinces near the common border for shopping.

Source: Hürriyet Daily Mail