The sharp drop in the occupancy of Turkish hotels in March was overcome in April and at the beginning of the summer season the complexes are already full, despite the higher prices. The authorities' forecast is that this year will again set a record for the number of visits by foreigners to our southern neighbor.
The total occupancy rate in licensed accommodation facilities increased to 41.12% in April, compared to 39.74% a year earlier, according to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Since 2020, when the pandemic caused by the corona virus began, this April has been a record in terms of the number of visits. The total number of overnight stays reached 16.27 million. For comparison, in April 2024, this number was 14.63 million. Of these, 10.33 million were from foreign visitors and 5.94 million were from domestic tourists. Between January and April, overnight stays increased to 41.65 million, compared to 41.11 million in the same period last year.
There was also an increase in the average length of stay - from 2.44 days in April 2024. on 2.48 days this April.
Turkey welcomed nearly 12.75 million visitors in the first four months of this year, with April visits increasing by over 8% year-on-year to 3.9 million, driven by strong demand from Germany, Russia and the UK.
Of the total for the January-April period, 10.59 million were foreign nationals, while 2.15 million were Turkish citizens residing abroad.
Germany maintained its leading position as the largest source of visitors to Turkey - 1.14 million Germans arrived between January and April.
Followed by Russia with 977,152 visitors and Iran with 946,472.
Bulgaria and UK rounded out the top five largest markets.
The upward trend in German tourism was particularly visible in April, when arrivals increased by 31.32% year-on-year, reaching 571,042.
Germany was followed by Russia with 375,820 visitors and the United Kingdom with 373,922, which marked an increase of 13.27% compared to April 2024.
Bulgaria and Iran were also among the leading markets for April.
The Turkish authorities aim to have 65 million tourists visiting the country this year and generate revenue of USD 64 billion. For comparison, last year’s revenue amounted to USD 61.1 billion, and in 2023 – 54.3 billion. USD.
Tourism is a vital industry that Turkey relies on to help turn a chronic current account deficit into a surplus. The sector contributes about 10% to Turkey's gross domestic product (GDP) and accounts for about 5% of total employment.