Tourism income up 5.6 percent to $9.5 billion in January-March

ANKARA

Tourism revenues increased by 5.6 percent in the first quarter from a year ago to $9.45 billion, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) reported on April 20.

Commenting on the data, Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said Türkiye is on track to meet the target set for 2025, noting that this marked an all-time high revenue for the first quarter.

The country aims for 65 million visitors and $64 billion in tourism revenues this year.

Tourism income from visitors was $9.3 bllion, while income from transfer passengers was $127 million. Some 23.6 percent of tourism revenues were obtained from Turkish citizens residing abroad, according to TÜİK.

The average expenditure per visitor increased by 4.8 percent year-on-year to $1,022. It was $99 per night, up from $93 a year earlier.

The share of food and beverage expenditures in total tourism income was 24.7 percent, international transportation expenditures and package tours accounted for 15.9 percent and 13.1 percent, respectively.

The country's tourism expenditures jumped 37.6 percent over the same period to $2.5 billion, with the number of Turkish citizens visiting abroad rising 6 percent to 2.6 million 

The Tourism Ministry, separately, reported that the number of tourists visiting Türkiye declined by 13.1 percent to 2.35 million.

In the first three months of 2025, the country welcomed a total of 6.7 million foreign tourists, down 5 percent from a year ago.

Including Turks residing abroad, 8.84 million people visited the country in the January-March period.

Iranians top the list of foreign visitors at 733,000, down 2 percent year-on-year. Russian tourists plunged 12 percent annually to 601,000, while the number of Germans visiting Türkiye fell 17 percent to 572,000.