Turkey suffers 33 percent decline in tourism revenues in third quarter 2016

Turkey’s tourism revenue decreased by 32.7 percent to $8.3 billion in the third quarter of 2016 compared to the same period of last year, amid a dramatic plunge in the number of foreign tourists visiting the country, data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) showed on Oct. 31.

Tourists spent an average per visit of $686 in the mentioned period, according to data.

The number of tourists passing through Turkish border gates decreased by 30.7 percent to around 12 million compared to the same period of 2015, according to TÜİK data. Some 78.5 percent were foreigners and the remaining 21.5 percent were Turkish citizens who live abroad. Tourism revenue is key for Turkey in financing its current account deficit, and the country’s tourism revenue was around $31.5 billion last year.

Meanwhile, the number of foreign visitors to Turkey dropped 31.9 percent to 20.2 million in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period in 2015, data from the Tourism Ministry showed on Oct. 27. The number of foreign arrivals to Turkey dropped in September by 32.84 percent to 2.86 million people, data showed.

SOURCE: MEDIA