Tourists visiting Türkiye spent more than $2.28 billion on souvenirs last year, according to a report on Monday, indicating the figure reached an all-time high.
The number of visitors to the country, including tourists and Turkish citizens residing abroad, approached 64 million last year, while tourism revenues exceeded $65.2 billion, marking the highest on record, official data showed recently.
At the same time, an analysis of tourism income by sub-sectors highlights a notable rise in souvenir spending, according to a report by Anadolu Agency (AA) on Monday, citing the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data.
Accordingly, souvenir expenditures by millions of tourists flocking to popular destinations such as Antalya, Muğla, Nevşehir and Istanbul increased from $2.151 billion in 2024 to $2.284 billion last year, the report said.
As a result, 2025 recorded the highest souvenir revenues since annual data began to be calculated in 2012.
The figures show that a wide variety of items symbolizing Türkiye’s cities and culture – ranging from magnets, carpets and kilims to jewelry, glassware, Turkish delight and nuts, as well as textile products – were taken to destinations all around the world.
Tourism revenues generated from souvenir sales over the past five years have, meanwhile, approached $10 billion.
The revenue, which fell to as low as $1.3 billion in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, surpassed the $2 billion threshold again in subsequent years, totaling around $9.9 billion between 2021 and 2025.
At the same time, an analysis of tourism revenues by spending categories found that tourists spent more than $6.1 billion on clothing and footwear last year.
Spending in the clothing and footwear sector, which hosts many international brands alongside globally recognized national brands, stood at $3.8 billion in 2021 and eclipsed $6 billion for the first time in 2024.
Over the past five years, total tourism revenue from clothing and footwear was recorded at $27.71 billion.
