BAKU – Türkiye’s tourism revenue reached a record $25.8 billion during the first six months of 2025, up 7.6 percent from a year ago, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜIK).
According to Hürriyet Daily News, in the second quarter alone — covering April, May and June — tourism income rose by 8.4 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching $16.28 billion. Türkiye aims to welcome 65 million tourists and generate $64 billion in tourism revenue in 2025.
Commenting on the latest data, Tourism and Culture Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that “this was the highest-ever first-half tourism revenue.”
“We are on track to meet our annual goal [of generating] $64 billion [in revenue],” he added.
In the first six months, 26.39 million tourists visited Türkiye, up 1 percent from a year ago, with the highest number of visitors coming from Russia, Germany, and the U.K., the minister noted. Tourism revenue reached an annual $62.9 billion in the second quarter of 2025, with the number of visitors reaching 62.7 million people, said Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek.
“Despite the tensions in our region, tourism continues to maintain its strong performance. The tourism sector, which supports our goal of a sustainable current account balance, continues to strengthen our economy,” Simsek wrote on X.
Of the second quarter figure, $16.1 billion came from visitors, while income from transfer passengers totaled $189 million. Of the revenue from visitors, 16.5 percent was contributed by Turkish citizens residing abroad who visited the country, said TÜIK. Personal expenditures accounted for $11.1 billion, and $4.99 billion came from package tours in the second quarter.
The average per capita expenditure by visitors increased by 6.1 percent compared to the second quarter of last year, reaching $981. Spending in all categories saw notable increases compared to last year. Package tours made up 31 percent of total tourism income, followed by food and beverage at 19.4 percent, and international transportation at 12.8 percent. International transport spending rose by 13.8 percent, food and beverage by 13.7 percent, and tourism services by 12.5 percent.
According to the data, 71.1 percent of visitors came for leisure, entertainment, sports or cultural activities. Another 16.8 percent visited friends or relatives, while 5.6 percent traveled for shopping. Turkish citizens living abroad primarily visited for family reasons, accounting for 60.7 percent of their travel purpose. Outbound tourism data showed that Turkish citizens traveling abroad spent $2.76 billion in the second quarter, marking a 41.1 percent increase from the previous year. Of this amount, $1.85 billion came from personal expenditures, while $909 million was from package tour spending. However, the number of outbound travelers slightly declined by 0.5 percent to 2.95 million, with an average spending of $936 per person.
In the first half of 2025, tourism expenditures surged 39.4 percent annually to $5.2 billion, with the number of Turkish people traveling abroad rising 2.4 percent to 5.54 million.
