Local spending on tourism in Türkiye more than doubled in the first quarter of the year, official data showed on Tuesday, as domestic demand remained robust despite soaring inflation and tighter borrowing conditions.
Travel expenditures surged 103.2% in January-March when compared to the same period a year earlier to TL 45.26 billion ($1.37 billion), the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) showed.
In the first three months of the year, 8.26 million residents traveled within the country, TurkStat said.
Domestic trips with one or more than one overnight stay decreased by 2.3% compared to the same quarter of the previous year to 9.85 million, it added.
During the first quarter, the visits of domestic travelers resulted in 65.23 million overnight stays, with the average length of the stay at 6.6, according to the data.
The strong tourism data came despite soaring costs amid stubbornly high inflation, which currently runs at slightly above 70% and is estimated to continue falling in the upcoming months after entering long-awaited disinflation in June.
Türkiye walked away from years of easing policy after last year’s presidential and parliamentary elections. It delivered aggressive tightening aimed at cooling demand to curb inflation, rebuilding reserves and flipping chronic current account deficits to surpluses.
Tourism is considered vital for the Turkish economy and the country rebounded strongly following the COVID-19 pandemic, welcoming some 56.7 million visitors last year.
Overall domestic expenditures rose in 2023 as well when compared to a year earlier, up by 101% to nearly TL 229.8 billion, according to earlier published data by TurkStat.
Personal expenditures took the lion’s share in the spending of locals in the first quarter, the data showed, accounting for 95.6% or TL 43.27 billion, as per data. Package tours, on the other hand, comprised 4.4% or nearly TL 2 billion.
In the first quarter, the largest share of total travel expenditures went to food and beverages, at 33.3%; transportation, at 28.8%; and accommodation, at 10.9%. According to the rate of change of trip expenditures compared to the same quarter of the previous year, it was observed that there were increases of 91.4% in eating and drinking expenditures, 80.8% in transportation expenditures and 127.3% in accommodation expenditures.
Foreign arrivals hit a record 49.2 million in 2023, up from 44.6 million tourists who arrived in 2022, with trips from Russia and Europe, driven by Germany, spearheading the increase. Combined with nearly 7.5 million Turkish citizens living abroad, the figure stood at 56.7 million.
Tourism income climbed to an all-time high of $54.32 billion, compared to $46.48 billion in 2022.
The government expects arrivals to reach 60 million this year before hitting 90 million in 2028. The income is envisaged to rise to $60 billion this year and $100 billion five years from now.
