Turkey tourism income increases 11 pct to $12.9 bln in third quarter

ANKARA

DHA Photo

Turkey’s tourism income jumped by 11 percent to $12.9 billion in the third quarter of 2014 from the same period of last year, the Turkish Statistics Agency (TÜİK) revealed on Oct. 30.

“Tourism continues to break records in Turkey despite the instability surrounding the country,” Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik said in a written statement.

Income from foreign visitors accounted for 81.8 percent of the total revenue, with the remaining 18.2 percent coming from Turkish citizens living abroad, according to TÜİK data.

The average spending was $712 per foreign visitor and $963 per Turkish citizens living abroad.

Turkey’s total tourism income was $32 billion in 2013, and the country was the world’s sixth top destination in terms of tourist numbers last year, according to the World Tourism Organization.

Over 30 million tourists visited Turkey between January and September 2014, compared to the 28.3 million over the same period last year, according to Tourism Ministry data.

Sector representatives expect around 42 million tourists to come to Turkey by the end of the year and for tourism revenues to reach $35 billion, which would mark a 6 percent boost in the number of tourists compared to last year.