Turkey's tourism income hits $4.63 billion in Q1

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Turkey's tourism income totaled $4.63 billion in the first quarter of this year, the country's statistical authority announced on April 30.

From January to March, quarterly tourism revenue surged 4.6 percent year-on-year, up from $4.42 billion in the same period last year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) reported.

"While 80.3 percent of this income - excluding GSM roaming and marina service expenditures - was obtained from foreign visitors, 19.7 percent was obtained from citizens resident abroad," the institute said.

Official figures said individual expenditures constituted nearly $4.1 billion of the total tourism income, while some $543 million of the revenues came from package tour expenditures.

Turkey welcomed over 6.6 million visitors in the three-month period, an 8.5 percent rise on a yearly basis - 82.2 percent foreign and 17.8 percent Turkish citizens living abroad.

TÜİK said visitors' average expenditures were $697 per capita, as foreigners spent $678 per capita and Turkish citizens spent $765 per capita.