Türkiye’s tourist arrivals, revenue surge reaffirm buoyant season…

Foreign arrivals in Türkiye jumped by nearly 20% in the first half of the year, according to official data Monday that also showed tourism revenues surged by almost a third, maintaining a strong trend in the industry that is a vital economic source.

Nearly 19.62 million foreigners arrived from January through June, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said, marking a 19.88% increase from some 16.37 million a year ago. Arrivals in June alone jumped 11.35% year-over-year to more than 5.58 million.

This year’s momentum has been driven by an influx of holidaymakers from Europe, particularly Germany and the United Kingdom, besides arrivals from Russia, mainly due to flight restrictions imposed by Western nations over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The first-half figure reaches nearly 22.95 million when visitors from abroad of Turkish origin are taken into account, marking a 17.5% increase from some 19.53 million in 2022, Ersoy told a news conference to announce the data.

Arrivals from Russia reached 2.61 million in January-June, the Culture and Tourism Ministry data showed, compared to nearly 1.46 million in the same period a year ago. They were followed by 2.27 million tourists from Germany and 1.49 million from the U.K. About 1.3 million Bulgarians and over 1 million Iranians visited Türkiye in the first half.

Tourism revenues surged 27% year-over-year to $21.7 billion in the first six months, Ersoy said, noting a more than 11% jump to almost $100 per capita overnight income.

“The per capita overnight income, which was $89.2 in the first six months of 2022, was realized as $99.9 in the first six months of 2023. In other words, there is an increase of 11.9%,” the minister noted.

“Our income per person per night had dropped to $62. Currently, Türkiye has started to see $100s.”

Revenues in the second quarter jumped 23.1% year-over-year to $12.98 billion, Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data showed.

Ersoy said the average length of stay had decreased, driven mainly by the intensive housing purchases by Russian citizens and seasonal rental of these residences to other tourists. He also cited the recession challenges plaguing the world and the contraction in purchasing power, leading to hotel stays falling.

“The duration of stay decreased from 10.5 overnight stays to an average of 9.9 overnight stays. There is a contraction of 5.7%,” said the minister.

Ersoy also acknowledged occupancy rates in hotels catering to high-income groups came in below expectations in the first half of the year.

The devastating earthquakes that struck southeastern Türkiye in early February and the presidential and parliamentary elections coincided with the early booking period, said Ersoy. “The fact that the cool weather extended until mid-July causes last-minute bookings to slip,” he added.

Tourism revenue is critical as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his government focus on reducing the current account deficit to tackle stubborn inflation.

Last year’s complete rebound from the pandemic fallout saw the number of tourists near a record, generating all-time high revenues and prompting the government to raise its annual estimates.

The government sees foreign arrivals reaching 60 million this year, which it estimates will hit 90 million in 2028. For the income, it sees it rising to $56 billion this year and $100 billion five years from now.

Foreign visitors surged 80.33% to 44.6 million in 2022, just shy of the peak of 45.1 million in 2019. The figure is compared to the 24.71 million arrivals in 2021 and 12.73 million in 2020.

Income in 2022 climbed 53.4% to a record high of nearly $46.3 billion as the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic dissipated and Russian arrivals rocketed after Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Last year’s income blew past the previous high of $38.4 billion in 2019 before the pandemic hit. The figure stood at $30.2 billion in 2021 after the outbreak more than halved it to just $14.8 billion in 2020.

Tourism contributes about 10% to Türkiye’s gross domestic product (GDP). In addition, around 1.7 million people worked in accommodation and food services in 2022 – about 5% of total employment.