According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), tourism revenue increased by 11.8 percent in the second quarter of April, May and June compared to the same quarter of the previous year and reached 14 billion 875 million 518 thousand dollars, while 15.9 percent of tourism revenue was generated from non-resident citizens visiting Turkey.While 10 billion 330 million 968 thousand dollars of the expenditures made by visitors who organised their travels personally or with package tours in this quarter were personal expenditures and 4 billion 544 million 550 thousand dollars were package tour expenditures, the number of visitors departing from Turkey increased by 15 percent in the second quarter compared to the same quarter of the previous year and was recorded as 16 million 97 thousand 884 people. 14.9 per cent of the visitors were citizens residing abroad with 2 million 405 thousand 675 people.In this quarter, the average overnight expenditure of departing visitors was 101 dollars, while the average overnight expenditure of citizens residing abroad was 69 dollars. In the April-June period, the share of package tour expenditures in tourism revenue was 30.6 percent, the share of food and beverage expenditures was 18.5 percent and the share of international transport expenditures was 12.2 percent, while package tour expenditures increased by 32.5 percent, food and beverage expenditures by 10.6 percent and international transport expenditures by 1.9 percent compared to the same period last year.CITIZENS RESIDING ABROAD CAME TO VISIT RELATIVESVisitors came to Turkey mostly for sightseeing, entertainment, sportive and cultural activities with 68.1 per cent, followed by visiting relatives and friends with 19.1 per cent and shopping with 5.4 per cent. Citizens residing abroad came to the country mostly for visiting relatives and friends with 66.5 percent.In the first six months of 2024, Turkey recorded a record tourism revenue of 23.7 million dollars.
