Domestic tourism expenditure rises 103 percent

ANKARA

Expenditures of domestic travelers rose 103.2 percent in the first quarter of 2024 from a year ago to 45.3 billion Turkish Liras ($1.4 billion), data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) have shown.

In the same quarter of 2023, the annual increase in domestic tourism expenditures was 101 percent, while in the whole of last year domestic travelers’ spending grew 101 percent to 230 billion liras ($7 billion).

Individual expenditures surged 106 percent year-on-year in January-March to 43.3 billion, while package tour expenditures were up 62.5 percent to 1.99 billion liras.

Food and drink accounted for 33 percent of all expenditures, followed by transportation at 28.8 percent. Accommodation-related expenditures constituted the third largest item, with a 10.9 percent share in total. The share of clothing and gifts was 10.1 percent.

The average expenditure per trip was 4,593 liras.

Some 8.3 million people, down 3.2 percent from the first quarter of 2023, made a total of 9.85 million trips, down 2.3 percent.

The primary purpose of trips the local travelers made in 2023 was visiting relatives, accounting for a 64 percent share, followed by leisure, vacation at 22.5 percent and health at 6.6 percent.

During this period, travelers spent 53,228,000 overnight stays, most of them at "friends' or relatives' houses." In terms of overnight stays by accommodation type, "hotels" ranked second with 4,971,000 overnight stays, while "own homes" came in third with 4,354,000 overnight stays.