Türkiye offers second cheapest holiday to Germans

ISTANBUL

Türkiye is the second cheapest holiday destination for German tourists after Albania, Recep Yavuz, from the Antalya City Council’s Tourism Working Group, has said, citing a recent study by Germany’s Federal Statistics Office (Destatis).

The study compares holiday destinations based on accommodation costs and daily expenditure.

“Price levels in the southern and south-eastern European countries offer opportunities to German holidaymakers, the study found,” said Yavuz.

The study examines price levels in 26 countries.

“In Türkiye, accommodation, restaurant and other service prices are 56 percent cheaper than Germany,” he added.

According to the study, holidays in southern Europe are cheaper than in Germany but they are more expensive in northern Europe, Yavuz said.

The price advantage is the main reason behind the strong demand in Germany for Türkiye holiday bookings, he added.

In the first four months of 2023, more than 966,000 German vacationers visited Türkiye, accounting for 10 percent of all foreign tourist arrivals. The number of German visitors increased from 814,000 in the same period of 2022, recent data from the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry showed.

In April alone, Germans topped the list of foreign tourists at 462,000 or 14 percent in total, followed by Russians at 381,000 and Britons at 280,000,

In Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic, vacationing is 18 percent less than in Germany, while it is 21 percent cheaper in Greece, according to Yavuz.

A holiday in Italy and France cost almost the same for a German tourist compared with vacationing in Germany.

Of the selected holiday destinations, Switzerland, Iceland and Denmark are the most expensive countries for German tourists.