Türkiye's tourism income climbs 4.2% in first quarter

ISTANBUL, 5 May (BelTA - Anadolu) - Türkiye's tourism income rose 4.2% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026 to nearly $9.9 billion, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).

Tourism income reached $9.89 billion in the January-March period, with $9.69 billion coming from visitors and $201.9 million from transit passengers, according to TurkStat data.

Turkish citizens residing abroad accounted for 25.6% of tourism income from visitors in the first quarter.

Individual expenditures made up $8.47 billion of total tourism income from visitors, while package tour expenditures stood at $1.22 billion.

The number of departing visitors increased by 1.5% from the same period last year to 9.26 million. Turkish citizens residing abroad represented 25.7% of visitors, totaling 2.38 million people.

The average nightly expenditure of visitors departing from Türkiye was $102, while Turkish citizens residing abroad spent an average of $72 per night.

Food and beverage expenditures had the largest share in total tourism income at 27%, followed by international transportation at 15.8% and accommodation at 13%.

Compared with the same quarter last year, accommodation expenditures rose 21.2%, health expenditures increased 18.4%, and food and beverage expenditures climbed 13.7%.

Travel, entertainment, sports, and cultural activities were the main purposes of visits to Türkiye in the quarter, accounting for 55.3% of visitors. Visiting relatives and friends followed with 26.8%, while shopping accounted for 8.2%.

The number of Turkish citizens traveling abroad increased by 13.1% from a year earlier to 2.94 million in the January-March period. Their average expenditure was $758 per capita.