Türkiye witnessed a 13.9 percent annual rise in visitor numbers during the first half of 2024 to 26.1 million. Tourism revenues during the same period rose 9.3 percent to $23.7 billion. The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently announced Türkiye’s 2024 first-half results revealing that the average daily expenditure per visitor reached $98.
Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Minister of Culture and Tourism, said that the first six months’ results confirmed Türkiye’s commitment to its year-end target of 60 million visitors and $60 billion in revenues.
Key target markets see strong growth
Russia, Germany and the United Kingdom, Türkiye’s traditionally biggest markets, have all continued to grow as tourists visited the country’s major tourism hubs Antalya, Istanbul, Izmir and Mugla.
Türkiye reported a 3 percent rise in Russian visitor numbers to 2.7 million. In addition, the number of German visitors exceeded 2.5 million, growing over 9 percent. The United Kingdom, Türkiye’s third biggest market, saw a 19 percent rise with almost 1.8 million tourists visiting Türkiye in the first half of the year.
However, the market with the largest growth was China, with visitor numbers to Türkiye rising 111 percent to 187,000. In addition, more than 56,000 Japanese visitors visited the country in the first six months of 2024, which is 96 percent more than the first of 2023.
Read: VFS Global launches Japan visa services for UAE residents
Heritage sites grow in popularity
During the first six months of 2024, Türkiye’s museums and historical sites hosted nearly 14 million visitors, an annual increase of 12 percent, further boosting the country’s tourism appeal. Türkiye’s most visited heritage sites during this period included Ephesus in Izmir, Mevlana Museum in Konya, Hierapolis & Pamukkale in Denizli, Goreme and Zelve/Pasabagları in Cappadocia/ Nevsehir.
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