UPDATE - Turkey's tourism income hits $4.63B in Q1

UPDATES WITH DETAILS

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's tourism income totaled $4.63 billion in the first quarter of 2019, the country's statistical authority announced on Tuesday.

From January to March, quarterly tourism revenue surged 4.6% year-on-year, up from $4.42 billion in the same period last year, TurkStat reported.

"While 80.3% of this income -- excluding GSM roaming and marina service expenditures -- was obtained from foreign visitors, 19.7% was obtained from citizens resident abroad," the institute said.

Official figures said individual expenditures constituted nearly $4.1 billion of the total tourism income, while some $543 million of the revenues came from package tour expenditures.

Turkey welcomed over 6.6 million visitors in the three-month period, an 8.5% rise on a yearly basis -- 82.2% foreign and 17.8% Turkish citizens living abroad.

TurkStat said visitors' average expenditures were $697 per capita, as foreigners spent $678 per capita and Turkish citizens spent $765 per capita.

Over the same period, visitors spent the most on food and beverages -- foreigners with around $768 million and Turkish visitors with $242 million.

Foreigners spent some $518 million on clothes and shoes, and $189 million on souvenirs in addition to nearly $15 million on carpets and rugs.

The primary visiting purpose of foreigners was travel, entertainment, sports, and cultural activities with 55.5%, as their top accommodation choice was hotels/motels/pensions with 19 million overnights.

The primary travel reason for Turkish visitors living abroad was visiting relatives and friends with almost 60%, while they mostly preferred private houses during their trips in Turkey, around 8.4 million overnights.

The institute also said that Turkey's tourism expenditure -- which is the expenditure of the Turkish citizens resident in Turkey and visiting abroad -- posted a 1.1% annual decline to $1.06 billion in the January-March period.

"In this quarter, the number of Turkish citizens visiting abroad decreased 2.5% compared to the same period last year," TurkStat said.

Around 2 million Turkish citizens traveled abroad and spent $529 per capita on average.