Turkey’s Annual Tourism Revenue Hits A Historic High

Turkey welcomed 45 million foreign visitors in 2019, up 14.1 percent year-on-year, according to the Culture and Tourism Ministry data on Friday.

The country’s annual tourism revenue rose 17 percent to hit $34.5 billion — a historical high — in 2019, according to the country’s statistical authority.

The average Euro/US dollar exchange rate was 1.11 in 2019.

The hotel occupancy rate across Turkey also reached 67.6 percent in 2019, up 2.4 percent from the previous year, a hotel association said.

The sector’s revenue per available room (RevPAR) and average daily rate (ADR) for rooms hit the three-year high in 2019, the Turkish Hotel Association (TUROB) reported.

RevPAR increased to $58 (€52.3), up 13 percent while ADR for rooms went up 10.4 percent to $85.61 (€77.4) year-on-year in 2019.

In Europe on average, the hotel occupancy rate was 72.2 percent and RevPAR was $125.32 (€113.3) last year, the report said.

Meanwhile, the occupancy rate was 74 percent in Turkey’s world-famous touristic city of Istanbul and 65.7 percent in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya.

While RevPAR and ADR were $86.16 (€77.9) and $43.69 (€39.5) in 2016, they posted a historical high with $127.86 (€115.6) and $82.73 (€74.8) in 2012 respectively.