Domestic tourists spend 3.7 billion TL in first quarter

ANKARA

DHA photo

Domestic trips by Turkish citizens lasting one or more night increased by 9.6 percent in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014, with denizens making nearly 14 million trips and spending almost 3.7 billion Turkish Liras. 

Leisure, however, does not rank among the top motivations for trips, with visiting relatives still the top reason for travel in the country. 

In the first quarter of the year, 10.8 million Turkish citizens made overnight trips. The average number of overnights was 7.5, while the average expenditure per trip was 265 Turkish Liras. 

Between January and March, the trip expenditures of domestic tourists increased by 12.2 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year, reaching 3.69 billion liras.

Domestic tourism expenditures were composed of individual expenditures and package tour expenditures. In this quarter, while 97.8 percent of domestic tourism expenditures were individual (3.614 billion liras), 2.2 percent came from package tour expenditures (80 million liras). 

The primary purpose of the travel visiting relatives at 69.9 percent, followed by health at 11.4 percent and travel, leisure, holiday in third at 8.8 percent.

In the first quarter, domestic visitors stayed mostly at the house of a friend or relative during 88.6 million overnight trips. Some 6.49 million nights were spent at citizens’ own secondary houses, while just 4.23 million nights were spent at a hotel.