Turkey's tourism revenues doubled to USD 24.5bn in 2021

Istanbul : Turkey's tourism revenues rose by 103 per cent on an annual basis to USD 24.48 billion in 2021, according to official data released on January 31, reflecting a recovery from the initial wave of Covid-19 pandemic measures in 2020.
The figure for last year fell short of the all-time high of USD 34.5 billion set in 2019, prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, the Turkish Statistical Institute data showed.
Turkey welcomed 29.4 million visitors last year, an increase of 85.5 per cent compared to 2020, but down from 51.9 million in 2019.
Average tourism expenditures per capita stood at USD 1,029 in 2021, up from USD 926 in 2020.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, tourism revenues rose 95 per cent to USD 7.63 billion, only 3 per cent below the level in October-December 2019.
In the same period, while individual expenditures constituted USD 5.88 billion of the total tourism income, USD 1.74 billion of tourism income was obtained by package tour expenditures.
The data showed that visitors spent the most on food and beverages (nearly USD 5.4 billion), as well as clothes and shoes (USD 3.2 billion), last year.
"In this year, while foreign visitors visited Turkey mostly for 'travel, entertainment, sportive and cultural activities' with 71.4 per cent, Turkish citizens resident abroad visited mostly for 'visiting relatives and friends' with 64.5 per cent," it said.
Separately, the Culture and Tourism Ministry also announced that foreigner visits to Turkey had surged 94 per cent annually, from 24.7 million in 2020.
Istanbul was the top tourist destination in the country with over 9 million arrivals, accounting for 36.5 per cent of all foreign visitors in 2021.
The Mediterranean resort city of Antalya followed with 8.7 million foreign visitors last year.
The third top destination was the northwestern province of Edirne, which borders both Bulgaria and Greece, welcoming some 2.6 million foreigners.