Tourism in Turkey
Turkey recorded a total of 38 million tourists in 2017, ranking 8th in the world in absolute terms.The fact that larger countries regularly perform better in a comparison of the absolute number of guests is obvious. By putting the tourist numbers in relation to the population of Turkey, the result is much more comparable picture: With 0.46 tourists per resident, Turkey ranked 93rd in the world. In Western Asia, it ranked 9th.
Turkey generated around 31.87 billion US Dollar in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 4.2 percent of its the gross domestic product.
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Development of the tourism sector in Turkey from 1995 to 2017
The following chart shows the number of tourist arrivals registered in Turkey each year. Anyone who spends at least one night in the country but does not live there for more than 12 months is considered a tourist. Insofar as the survey included the purpose of the trip, business trips and other non-tourism travel purposes have already been excluded. The number of people passing through within the same day, and e.g. crew members of ships or flights are also not considered as tourists in most countries. If the same person travels in and out more than once within the same year, each visit counts again.Data in the chart are given in millions of tourists. The red line represents the average of all countries in Western Asia.
Revenues in tourism
In 1995, tourism revenues amounted to 4.96 billion USD, or about 2.9 percent of the gross national product. This corresponded to about 7.08 million tourists at that time and roughly 700 USD per person. Within 22 years, the country's dependence on tourism has increased noticeably. In the last year of the survey, the revenue now amounts to 31.87 billion USD, accounting for 3.7 percent of the gross national product. Each visitor now spends an average of 848 USD for his holiday in Turkey.Annual receipts as percentage of the gross national product:
All data for Turkey in detail
| Year | Number of tourists | Receipts | % of GNP | Expences per person |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 7.08 m | 4.96 bn $ | 2.9 % | 700 $ |
| 1996 | 7.97 m | 5.65 bn $ | 3.1 % | 709 $ |
| 1997 | 9.04 m | 7.00 bn $ | 3.7 % | 775 $ |
| 1998 | 8.96 m | 7.18 bn $ | 2.6 % | 801 $ |
| 1999 | 6.89 m | 5.20 bn $ | 2.0 % | 755 $ |
| 2000 | 9.59 m | 7.64 bn $ | 2.8 % | 797 $ |
| 2001 | 10.78 m | 10.07 bn $ | 5.0 % | 934 $ |
| 2002 | 12.79 m | 11.90 bn $ | 5.0 % | 930 $ |
| 2003 | 13.34 m | 13.20 bn $ | 4.2 % | 990 $ |
| 2004 | 16.83 m | 15.89 bn $ | 3.9 % | 944 $ |
| 2005 | 20.27 m | 20.76 bn $ | 4.1 % | 1,024 $ |
| 2006 | 18.92 m | 19.14 bn $ | 3.5 % | 1,012 $ |
| 2007 | 26.12 m | 21.66 bn $ | 3.2 % | 829 $ |
| 2008 | 29.79 m | 26.45 bn $ | 3.5 % | 888 $ |
| 2009 | 30.19 m | 26.33 bn $ | 4.1 % | 872 $ |
| 2010 | 31.36 m | 26.32 bn $ | 3.4 % | 839 $ |
| 2011 | 34.65 m | 30.30 bn $ | 3.6 % | 874 $ |
| 2012 | 35.70 m | 31.57 bn $ | 3.6 % | 884 $ |
| 2013 | 37.80 m | 36.19 bn $ | 3.8 % | 958 $ |
| 2014 | 39.81 m | 38.86 bn $ | 4.2 % | 976 $ |
| 2015 | 39.48 m | 35.60 bn $ | 4.1 % | 902 $ |
| 2016 | 30.29 m | 26.79 bn $ | 3.1 % | 884 $ |
| 2017 | 37.60 m | 31.87 bn $ | 3.7 % | 848 $ |
All data correspond to the information of the World Tourism Organization.