The country’s tourism income dropped by 40.2% to USD 2.4bn in the first quarter (Q1) of 2021, compared to the same quarter of the previous year, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). Foreign visitors constituted 68% of the tourism income (excluding roaming and marina services expenditures) while 1.2% was spent by Turkish citizens residing abroad.
USD 2.2bn of total income amount consisted of individual expenditures, while USD 155.3m contained tour expenditures in Q1.
Health expenditures increased by 4.7%, sports, education and culture expenditures declined by 79.5%, while package tour expenditures (the remainder share in the country) fell by 71% and tour services expenditures dropped by 62.4% in this period.
The average expenditure amounted to USD 56 per night in Q1. Accordingly, the average expenditure of foreigner tourists totaled USD 64 per night, while average expenditure of Turkish visitors residing abroad amounted to USD 44 per night.
Travel, entertainment, sportive and cultural activities
The number of departing visitors declined by 53.9% to 2.6 million people in Q1, compared to the same period of the previous year. 70.2% of them consisted of foreigners by 1.8 million people, while 29.8% of them contained Turkish citizens residing abroad by 774,241 people.
Foreigners visited the country mostly for travel, entertainment, sportive and cultural activities by 54.9% in this period. The second highest purpose of visit was ‘visiting friends and relatives by 23.3%, followed by the business visits (conferences, meetings, assignments etc.) by 8.8%. Turkish citizens residing abroad visited the country mostly for visiting relatives and friends by 66.6%.
70.2% fall in Turkish travelers
Tourism expenditures consisting of expenses of residents visited abroad dropped by 70.2% to USD 236.4m in Q1, compared to Q1 2020. USD 236.1m of this amount consisted of individual expenditures, while USD 282,000 contained package tour expenses.
The number of residents visited abroad declined by 83.9% to 281,322 in Q1, compared to the same period of the previous year. Their average expenditure amounted at USD 840 per capita.
