Turkish travel spending more than doubled in 2022 season

Spending on local trips in Türkiye more than doubled in the third quarter of 2022, as domestic tourism mobility gained pace in a year marked by an overall rebound in foreign arrivals.

Local travelers spent about TL 63.37 billion ($3.37 billion) on trips within Türkiye in the July-September period, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said, marking a 112.6% increase versus a year ago.

The authority said nearly 19.16 million people traveled in the third quarter. The number of trips with one or more overnight stays rose 1.1% year-over-year to 23.38 million, the data showed.

The travelers made approximately 225.21 million overnight stays. Average overnight stays were 9.6 nights per person, while spending per trip amounted to some TL 2,710, the institute said.

Personal expenditures accounted for 88.7% of the overall spending, followed by tour expenditures, which represented 11.3%, or TL 7.17 billion.

Food and drinks spending accounted for 31.8%, followed by transportation at 27.8% and accommodation at 15.1%, the data showed. Food and drinks expenditures rose 108.5% year-over-year, while the latter two were up 155.8% and 111.1%, respectively.

The rebound in domestic tourism added to a buoyant 2022 season that saw a strong recovery in the number of foreign visitors arriving in Türkiye, after a 2020 slump owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Backed by demand from European countries, foreign arrivals jumped 84.77% year-over-year in the January-November period of 2022, reaching 42.16 million people, matching pre-pandemic levels of 2019.

With 5.48 million arrivals, Germans topped the list, followed by nearly 4.95 million arrivals from Russia and 3.3 million arrivals from the United Kingdom, according to the Culture and Tourism Ministry data.

The arrivals have been mainly boosted by Russian visitors who were hit by flight restrictions by Western countries after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The rebound prompted the government to revise its year-end tourism targets several times throughout the year.

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy last month said they expected 51.5 million tourists and $46 billion in revenues in 2022. Estimates had stood at 45 million arrivals and $35 billion in income at the beginning of the year.

Forecasts for 2023 have also been upgraded, as Türkiye now expects 60 million foreign visitors and $56 billion in revenue.

Officials had hoped tourism this year could replicate or exceed 2019 figures when some 52 million visitors brought in $34 billion in revenue.

The number of foreign visitors soared by 94.1% to 24.71 million in 2021 when COVID-19 measures were eased compared to 2020. Tourism revenues doubled to almost $25 billion but remained well below the recorded level in 2019.

Revenues from January through September 2022 already reached $35 billion, according to data from TurkStat, up nearly 68% versus the same period in 2021.

Tourism revenues are vital to Türkiye’s economy as the government’s new economic program focuses on flipping the current account deficits to a surplus, prioritizing exports, production and investments while curbing rising inflation.

Source: Daily Sabah