Tourism revenues up 7 percent to reach $47 billion in 9 months

ANKARA

The Salomon Cappadocia Ultra Trail Run organized in Nevşehir contributed approximately 200 million liras to the tourism in the region.

Türkiye’s tourism revenue increased by 6.6 percent to $46.9 billion in the first 9 months of 2024 from a year ago, while foreign tourist arrivals rose 6.8 percent to 41.9 million in the same period, separate official data showed on Oct. 31.

The end-of-year target for visitors has been revised upwards to 61 million, Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said after the data was released.

The government initially aimed at 60 million visitors and $60 billion in tourism revenues for 2024.

In the third quarter of the year, tourism revenues amounted to $23.2 billion, marking a 3.9 percent rise from the same period of 2023, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

Individual expenditures constituted $15 billion of the total tourism income, while another $8.14 billion came from by package tour expenditures, TÜİK said.

The average per capita expenditure was $1,001 in the third quarter, up 0.5 percent year-on-year, while it was $970 in the January-September period, down 1.6 percent annually.

Turkish citizens residing abroad accounted for 14.7 percent of total tourism revenues in the July-September period, according to TÜİK.

The shares of food and international transport were 17.9 percent and 10.9 percent in total tourism expenditures, respectively, while accommodation constituted another 9.7 percent.

Health spending amounted to $2.3 billion in the January-September period, data also showed.

Visitors spent $4.8 billion on clothing and $1.7 billion on souvenirs in the first 9 months.

 Foreign tourist arrivals

The Tourism Ministry said on Oct. 31 that 41.9 million foreign tourists visited Türkiye in January-September, pointing to a 6.75 percent annual increase.

Including Turks residing abroad, the number of total visitors reached 49.2 million.

In September alone, foreign tourist arrivals rose by 4.6 percent from a year ago to 6.05 million.

Russians constituted the largest group of foreign visitors at 13 percent in total. In the first 9 months of 2024, Türkiye welcomed 5.5 million Russian tourists, up 5.9 percent year-on-year.

Germans ranked second at 5.2 million, up 6.2 percent, while the number of tourists from the U.K. rose by 16.5 percent to 3.7 million.

Türkiye also hosted 2.5 million Iranians, up nearly 33 percent annually, and 2.2 million Bulgarians, up 1.1 percent in the January-September period, according to data from the ministry.