According to data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat), the amount spent by tourists in the fourth quarter rose by 11.6 percent over the same period last year, representing the first increase in 2009 as a global financial crisis severely affected global tourism. According to the release, $5 billion was spent by tourists coming to Turkey, with 70.4 percent of this spent by foreigners and the rest by Turkish nationals living abroad and visiting Turkey.
The overwhelming majority of spending was done by tourists coming independently rather than with a tour: Only 17 percent of the $5 billion spent in the fourth quarter was by tourists coming into Turkey via tours. The number of tourists visiting Turkey in the fourth quarter also increased by 11.2 percent, to reach approximately 6.9 million.
On an annual basis, 2009 was especially brutal. By the third quarter of the year, the income derived from tourism had decreased by 6.9 percent compared to 2008, but the stellar performance of the last quarter of the year halved this gap to 3 percent -- an impressive accomplishment in the face of a year full of economic adversity and signaling that Turkey was successful in attracting tourists near the end of the year. The increase in the number of tourists coming into Turkey was 3.5 percent, reaching 32 million. Turkish citizens leaving the country for touristic reasons also increased in 2009, from 4.9 million in 2008 to approximately 5.6 million in 2009, representing a 14 percent increase. Moreover, the latter half of the year saw Turkish tourists spending much more than in 2008: The total amount spent by Turkish tourists leaving the country increased by 36.5 percent in the last half of the year compared to the same period in 2008. The same amount was only 2.9 percent higher than 2008 for the first half of the year. Per person spending by this group also increased in 2009 by 3.9 percent -- an increase experienced mostly in the fourth quarter of the year -- from $717 per person to $745 per person. This increase in the number and the spending of residents leaving the country for a touristic trip, especially in the latter half of the year, indicates that Turkish citizens were economically better off in the latter half of the year and that the Turkish economy, despite being hard hit in 2009, was doing better than expected.
In terms of the income profile of Turkish residents leaving the country for trips abroad, 68.75 percent of the Turkish residents returning in the fourth quarter claimed to be from a middle-income group -- representing a 3.75 percentage point increase compared to the same period last year, indicating that the middle class made up a large share of Turkish tourists near the end of the year.
Data are calculated based on the results of a survey given to visitors departing from Turkey with the intent of analyzing visitors’ profiles, characteristics and the amount spent during their stay in Turkey. A similar survey is given to Turks returning to the country from trips abroad and also aims to estimate their expenditures while outside the country.
