Over 39 million foreign tourists visit Türkiye in nine months

ANKARA

Foreign tourist arrivals in Türkiye rose by 12.7 percent in January-September to 39.2 million, while the country’s tourism revenues were up 13 percent to $20.2 billion in the third quarter, official data released on Oct. 31 showed.

Türkiye aims to host 60 million tourists and generate $56 billion in tourism revenues this year.

Including Turks residing abroad, the number of visitors stood at 45.2 million, up 12 percent from the same period of last year, the Culture and Tourism Ministry said.

Russians constituted the largest group of foreign holidaymakers. In the first nine months of 2023, 5.2 million Russian nationals visited Türkiye, pointing to a robust 34 percent increase from a year earlier.

Germans ranked second at 4.86 million, followed by Britons at 3.2 million and Bulgarian citizens at 2.15 million. Türkiye also hosted 1.9 million Iranian tourists in January-September.

Despite the ongoing war with Russia, tourist arrivals from Ukraine increased by 28 percent to around 663,000.

Istanbul was foreigners’ favorite destination, attracting 13.2 million tourists. Antalya, on the Mediterranean coast, welcomed 12 million foreign holidaymakers in the first nine months of the year.

Some 3.7 million foreigners visited the northwestern province of Edirne. People from the neighboring countries travel to Edirne for shopping purposes.

In September alone, 5.8 million foreigners visited Türkiye, up 5.7 percent year-on-year.

Tourism revenues

Meanwhile, the country’s tourism revenues increased by 13.1 percent in the third quarter of 2023 from a year ago to $20.2 billion, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) reported on Oct. 31.

While individual expenditures constituted $14.6 billion of the total tourism income, package tour expenditures amounted to $5.6 billion.

The average expenditure per visiting tourist increased by 5.9 percent year-on-year to $902, and the average per night expenditure was up nearly 16 percent to $103.

Tourists’ accommodation expenditures rose by 26.1 percent, and food and beverage expenditures were up 24.6 percent. But tour services expenditures decreased by 1.6 percent.

Some 76.2 percent of foreign tourists visited Türkiye for travel, entertainment, sportive and cultural activities, while 3 percent came to the country for shopping. Around 1.2 percent said they traveled to Türkiye for health purposes. Visitors’ health-related expenditures amounted to $1.7 billion in the first nine months of 2023.

They spent $4.9 billion on clothing and shoes and another $1.1 billion on souvenirs.

In the first nine months of 2023, Türkiye’s tourism revenues amounted to $42 billion, rising 20 percent from a year ago.