The year 2024 was record -breaking for Turkey in terms of the number of guests and tourism revenues – Turkish media reported on Friday. Turkey was visited by 52.6 million foreign tourists. The largest group of guests from abroad were the Russians – 6.7 million.
Tourism revenues compared to 2023 increased by 8.3 percent to USD 61.1 billion – the Turkish Statistical Office said on Friday.
A record year for Turkey
The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism also announced that day that the number of arrivals of foreign tourists increased by about 7 percent. compared to the previous year. Turkey In 2024, 52.6 million guests from abroad visited.
As the Daily Sabah website pointed out, the most foreigners came to Turkey with Russia and European countries, including German and Great Britain. The data provided by the Turkish authorities show that Turkey was visited by over 6.7 million Russians.
Türkiye is also still a popular field of Poles. As in November, Waszatura.pl reported “In the first nine months of 2024, the country was visited by 1,623,707 Polish tourists, which is an increase of 20.48 percent compared to the same period in 2023”. It all despite the fact that Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns that Türkiye is a country threatened with terrorism, and reborn all travels in the regions bordering Syria and Iraq: Hatay, Kilis and Diyarbakir, Batman, şırnak, Hakkari districts.
Summer problems of the tourism industry
Interestingly, although 2024 was record -breaking, the tourist industry was struggling with problems. In August 2024, for the first time in a long time, the accelerated growth of the tourist sector in Turkey slowed down compared to previous years.
The chairman of the Turkish consumer confederation Mehmet Gem in an interview with the BBC sender stated that the maximum occupancy of hotels this year reaches 60 percent, while usually in July, August and September is at a minimum level of 90 percent. The president of the Turkish Hotelier Association Türob, Müberra Eresin, talked about the “significant” decrease in interest in accommodation in hotels. In her opinion, this was related to the European Football Championships in Germany and the Olympic Games in Paris.
You can find more information in: In Turkey this summer, the hotel covering “below expectations”. Experts about the causes
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