Official data recently released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) showed that domestic tourism spending in Turkey increased by a huge 115.8% in the second quarter of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023.
Domestic tourism spending and trips
Data from TurkStat showed that domestic tourist spending amounted to 103.1 billion Turkish Lira ($3 billion USD) during the months of April, May, and June 2024, as more and more citizens chose to take holidays in Turkey rather than holidays abroad.
Data also showed that trips with more than one night of stay increased by 23.3% during the same period of time, reaching a total of 19.8 million trips. Domestic trips accounted for a total of 118.2 million overnight stays during the April, May, and June period – the average stay was six nights.
Spending categories by tourists
90% of all domestic tourism expenses were classed as individual expenses, amounting to $2.7 billion USD. Package tours and excursions spending by domestic travellers reached $300.6 million USD.
The data released also showed that the average spending per domestic trip taken amounted to $151.8 USD.
The purpose of domestic trips
During the second quarter of the year, the primary reason for domestic travel in Turkey was to visit relatives and family members in other cities. Domestic trips for visiting relatives accounted for 62.4% of total trips, according to TurkStat.
A further 31.6% of trips were for travel, leisure, and vacation to areas including Antalya, Bodrum, and Fethiye. Finally, domestic health tourism accounted for 2.7% of total trips taken domestically in Turkey.
Turkey increases total end-of-year tourism target
At the beginning of the year, Turkey had targets for total tourism numbers of domestic as well as international visitors to reach 60 million in 2024. Following impressive tourism figures and numbers, Turkey has now increased the overall figure to 61 million expected tourists.
Istanbul 
3 
2 
X