Domestic travel expenditure rises as more people hit the roads

ISTANBUL

Both domestic tourism expenditures and the number of local travelers increased in the first quarter of 2023 compared with the same period of last year.

Total travel expenditures amounted to 22.23 billion Turkish Liras in January-March, rising nearly 83 percent year-on-year, showed the data the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) released on July 21.

Individual expenditures increased by 82.7 percent from the first quarter of 2022 to more than 21 billion liras, while package tour expenditures were up 84 percent to 1.22 billion liras.

TÜİK calculated that the average expenditure per trip was 2,207 liras, rising from the previous quarter’s 2,186 liras and more than 1,383 liras in the January-March period of 2022.

Food and drink accounted for 35.3 percent of all travel expenditures, followed by transport costs at 32.4 percent. Accommodation-related expenditures constituted the third largest item, with a 9.8 percent share in total.

Last year as a whole, domestic travelers’ total expenditures stood at 114.3 billion liras, rising nearly 97 percent from 2021. In the first quarter of 2022, travel expenditures leaped 100 percent year-on-year to 12.2 billion liras.

The primary purpose of trips the local travelers made in the first quarter was visiting relatives, accounting for a 65.8 percent share, followed by leisure and holiday at 18.4 percent, and health-related travel at 5.9 percent.

The share of business meetings and conference-related trips was 7.8 percent.

Some 78.3 percent of people stayed at the homes of their relatives or friends when traveling, while only 4.9 percent stayed at hotels and 8.6 percent at their own homes, according to TÜİK.

More travelers

TÜİK reported that 8.6 million people residing in Türkiye traveled in the first quarter, marking a 17.1 percent increase from a year ago.

The 8.6 million travelers made more than 10 million trips, up from 8.8 million trips in the first quarter of 2022.

The number of overnight stays increased by 10.3 percent year-on-year to 74.5 million, while the average overnight stays was 7.4.

In 2022, local travelers made a total of 52 million trips, which translated into a 0.8 percent decline from the previous year.