According to latest data from Turkish Statistical Institute, Turkey’s tourism revenue fell sharply to $8.28 billion in the third quarter of 2016; accounting a fall of 32.7 percent from the same period in the previous year.
Turkey welcomed nearly 12.1 million foreign visitors in the third quarter of this year, a decline of 5.3 million visitors from the same quarter in 2015. Turkey welcomed over 2.6 million Turkish citizens residing abroad.
The country’s total revenue from tourism was over $17.3 billion from January to September, $7.6 billion less compared to the same period last year.
Income from tourism is a valuable source of foreign currency for the country, constituting nearly 4 percent of national income last year with $31.5 billion. While 71.6 percent of this income [excluding GSM roaming and marina service expenditures] was obtained from foreign visitors, 28.4 percent was obtained from citizens residing abroad.
The number of Turkish citizens traveling abroad in the quarter fell by 13.1 percent over the last year and reached over 2.2 million.
Their average expenditure was $506 per capita for the quarter.
Nearly 41.6 million tourists came to Turkey last year. The country welcomed 41.4 million tourists in 2014. Just over half of the foreign visitors came from Europe.
Source: AA
