Turkey's revenues from tourism fell to $5 billion in the second quarter of the year, official figures showed on Friday. Revenues fell 35.6 percent from the same period the previous year, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
Turkey saw nearly 7.5 million foreign visitors in the second quarter of this year, a drop from 10.7 million in the same quarter of 2015. Nearly 42 million tourists visited the country last year. The country's first half-year total revenue from tourism was $9.04 billion, down from $12.6 billion a year earlier.
The second quarter has traditionally been the low season for tourism, as the winter months attract a smaller number of tourists who visit to the country's world-famous resorts and historic monuments. Income from tourism is a valuable source of foreign currency for the country, constituting nearly 4 percent of national income last year at $31.5 billion.
TurkStat also said that over 2 million of the visitors to the country in the quarter were Turkish citizens resident abroad.
"While 77.1 percent of this income [excluding GSM roaming and marina service expenditures] was obtained from foreign visitors, 22.9 percent was obtained from citizens resident abroad," TurkStat reported. According to the institute, the average amount spent by foreign tourists was $602 this year in the second quarter, when resort prices are low due to low winter demand. Turks living abroad spent $973 on average.
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