The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) has published tourism statistics for the third quarter of 2026, covering the months of July, August, and September. The data revealed a trend-breaking picture in the tourism sector. While the number of visitors departing from our country decreased by 1.6 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year to 23 million 255 thousand 7 people, tourism revenue increased by 5 percent in the same period, reaching 25 billion 526 million 218 thousand dollars.
Of the massive revenue generated, 25 billion 294 million dollars was provided directly by visitors, while 231 million dollars came from transit passengers. When the visitor profile was examined, it was observed that 14.4 percent of tourism revenue was generated by citizens residing abroad who visited Turkey.
AVERAGE NIGHTLY EXPENDITURE 107 DOLLARS
Visitors organized their trips primarily through personal expenditures. Of the expenditures, 17 billion 114 million dollars were personal, and 8 billion 179 million dollars were within the scope of package tours. While the average nightly expenditure of visitors staying overnight in Turkey was 107 dollars, the nightly expenditure of Turkish citizens residing abroad remained at the level of 68 dollars.
Looking at the distribution of revenue items, the share of package tour expenditures ranked first with 32.3 percent. This was followed by food and beverage expenditures at 20.5 percent and accommodation expenditures at 12.5 percent. Compared to the same quarter of last year, there was a remarkable increase of 23.6 percent in health expenditures and 19 percent in accommodation.
TRAVEL AND ENTERTAINMENT AT THE TOP FOR VISIT PURPOSE
The greatest motivation for foreign visitors coming to Turkey was travel, entertainment, sports, and cultural activities. Visiting relatives and friends ranked second with 16.9 percent, and shopping ranked third with 3.7 percent. It was determined that citizens residing abroad came to the country for the purpose of visiting relatives and friends with an overwhelming majority of 63.9 percent.
LARGE INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF CITIZENS TRAVELING ABROAD
Turkey's tourism expenditures also increased by 22.6 percent compared to the same period last year, rising to 3 billion 40 million 60 thousand dollars. The majority of these expenditures consisted of personal spending.
The significant rise in the number of citizens visiting abroad in the third quarter was also reflected in the statistics. The number of people traveling abroad increased by 24.2 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 4 million 202 thousand 160 people. The average per capita expenditure of citizens traveling abroad was recorded as 723 dollars.
News Source: 12punto
