Turkey’s tourism revenue and visitor numbers reached record levels in 2025, with revenue rising 6.8 percent to $65.2 billion and the number of visitors climbing to nearly 64 million, according to official data released on Friday.
The number of people visiting Turkey increased 2.7 percent from the previous year to 63.9 million. About 11.2 million of them, or 17.5 percent, were Turkish citizens residing abroad.
Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has welcomed the figures as a record milestone for the sector.
Speaking at a news conference at İstanbul’s Atatürk Cultural Center on Friday, Ersoy said the data showed Turkey had reached the highest tourism revenue and visitor levels in the country’s history.
He said Turkey’s tourism revenue target for 2026 is $68 billion.
The tourism industry’s revenue stood at $61.1 billion in 2024 when 62.2 million tourists, including Turkish citizens living abroad, visited the country that year.
The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said tourism revenue from visitors amounted to $64.45 billion, while transiting aircraft passengers contributed about $782 million. Visitors living abroad but having Turkish citizenship accounted for 18 percent of total tourism revenue.
Personal spending made up the bulk of tourism income at $46.25 billion, while package tours generated $18.19 billion.
Average nightly spending by visitors stood at $100, while Turkish citizens living abroad spent an average of $64 per night.
Package tours accounted for 28.2 percent of tourism revenue in 2025, followed by food and beverage spending at 21.1 percent and international transportation at 12.8 percent.
Compared with the previous year, package tour spending rose 4.5 percent, food and beverage spending increased 16.1 percent and international transport spending climbed 8.9 percent.
Leisure, entertainment, sports and cultural activities remained the main reasons for visits to Turkey, accounting for 67.7 percent of arrivals. Turkish citizens living abroad most frequently traveled to the country to visit relatives and friends.
Turkey relies heavily on tourism revenue amid a deteriorating economy. The country has suffered from skyrocketing inflation, which peaked at more than 85 percent in 2022 but slowed last year, falling to 30.9 percent in December, as well as years of depreciation of the Turkish lira.
Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek also welcomed the figures, saying in a statement on X that they exceeded the government’s target under its Medium-Term Program (OVP), the Treasury and Finance Ministry’s three-year economic roadmap that sets projections for indicators such as growth, inflation, the budget balance, employment and tourism revenue.
2025 yılında ihracat ve turizmde kaydettiğimiz performans, sürdürülebilir cari denge hedefimize yönelik kazanımlarımızı desteklemeye devam etti.
İhracat yüzde 4,4 artışla 273,4 milyar dolara yükselirken, ithalat altın fiyatlarının da etkisiyle arttı. Buna rağmen dış ticaret… pic.twitter.com/obKVI5EgHp
— Mehmet Simsek (@memetsimsek) January 30, 2026
Şimşek said policies aimed at spreading tourism across all four seasons and diversifying the sector had helped raise average spending per visitor to above $1,000.
Tourism spending abroad also rises
Tourism spending by Turkish citizens traveling abroad increased sharply in 2025, rising 24 percent from the previous year to $9.6 billion, TurkStat said. Personal spending accounted for $7.37 billion of that total, while package tours made up $2.23 billion.
The number of Turkish citizens traveling abroad rose 4.4 percent to 11.9 million, with average spending per person reaching $807.
In 2024, 11.4 million Turks traveled to other countries and spent $7.7 billion, which marked a 8.2 percent decrease when compared to 2023 data.
Strong fourth-quarter performance
TurkStat also released tourism data for the fourth quarter of 2025. Tourism revenue in the final quarter rose 9.9 percent year-on-year to $15.15 billion, TurkStat said. Nearly one-fifth of that income came from Turkish citizens living abroad.
Visitor numbers in the fourth quarter increased 5.9 percent to 14.7 million. Average nightly spending during the period was $91, while spending by Turkish citizens living abroad averaged $57 per night.
Tourism-related spending abroad, however, declined 10.2 percent in the fourth quarter to $1.91 billion, despite a 10.3 percent increase in the number of Turkish citizens traveling overseas.