Cheap TL attracts 1.2 million tourists for shopping in Turkey
The cheap TL has caused many foreign visitors to favor Turkey for shopping tourism. In 2019, the year before the epidemic, 1.6 million tourists had preferred Turkey only for shopping, while in the first half of 2022, this figure increased to 1.2 million and broke the all-time first-half record. The Ministry, on the other hand, has started working on a promotional film for shopping tourism.
The fact that domestic consumers cannot create enough business on retail level due to weakened buying power caused by inflation, has led retail product suppliers/brands turn their attention to foreign shoppers. This situation together with the effect of the exchange rate advantage has brought a new record broken in terms of number of foreigners who came to Turkey for shopping.
In some regions, officials have started work to spread tourist shopping, whose share in sales exceeds 50 percent, to all months of the year. According to the information given by the President of the United Brands Association, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism will also bring shopping to the forefront in Turkish promotional films.
All-time first-half record
According to TURKSTAT data, 18.4 million tourists visited Turkey in the first half, while tourism revenue reached 14 billion dollars. Also, the number of tourists who came for shopping broke a record. Again, according to TURKSTAT data, 1.5 million foreign visitors came to Turkey for shopping in the whole of 2017, while this figure increased to 1.4 million in 2018 and 1.6 million in 2019. The figure, which decreased with the epidemic, was 764 thousand in 2020 and 774 in 2021. However, the increase in the exchange rate since the last quarter of last year has led to the fact that Turkey has become advantageous for shopping. With the effect of the developments, 1 million 177 thousand foreigners preferred Turkey for shopping in the first half of this year and this figure was recorded as an all-time record on a 6-month basis.
This year, the figure is expected to approach 3 million. During this period, clothing and footwear expenditure of foreigners became 1 billion 841 million dollars while food and beverage expenditures were recorded at 2 billion 680 million dollars and with souvenirs and carpet rug etc. expenditures amounted to $ 782 million.
