Families are increasingly choosing to visit Turkey for its bountiful natural, historical and cultural riches, while also being an economic and safe destination. According to a Turkey Demand Profile Analysis prepared by Turkey's Hoteliers Federation, the increase seen in the number of foreign tourists that visited Turkey this year compared to the year prior is primarily due to the rise in families with children that visited the country.

This year, the number of tourists between the ages of 0 to14 that visited Turkey increased by 485,315. In the 25 to 44-age bracket, this year there were an additional 152,763 foreign visitors. Meanwhile, the number of visitors between the ages of 45 to 64 dropped by 100,852 and the number of visitors 65+ decreased by 74,582.

In 2011, coinciding with the Arab Spring, the 2.8 million increase in tourist numbers primarily consisted of independent travelers. A whopping seventy-five percent of the increase seen that year consisted of independent travelers, while 15 percent were in the 0 to 14 age group and ten percent were from package tours.

Last year independent travelers dropped by nine percent

In 2012, this trend came to a halt as financial woes were visibly on the rise in Europe. Last year, Turkey experienced a moderate one percent increase in numbers of tourists, which increased by 330,000. The source of this increase came from families with children and package tours.

While last year the number of independent travelers that visited Turkey dropped by nine percent, those who came on package tours increased by 7.5 percent. There was a ten percent increase in the number of tourists in the 0 to 14 age group and families. In 2011, the number of tourists in the 0 to 14 age group that came to Turkey was 4,713,435 while in 2012 that number went up to 5,198,750. Accordingly, 68 percent of the increase in tourists last year were from package tours, while 32 percent was from young tourists.