Turkey, one of the most popular vacation destinations, which received 16.3 million foreign tourists in the first half of 2022, estimated that it received half as much revenue from each vacationer as its Spanish competitors. At the same time, the profit from the Turkish tourism sector exceeded the indicators of the year before 2019.
Spain, which has seen a slower recovery in visitor numbers compared to Turkey, is also experiencing a faster normalization of tourism sector revenues, according to data on tourism receipts for the 9 months of 2022 published by the Turkish Statistical Office.
162 euros in Spain versus $89 in Turkey
It seems that the resorts of the European country, whose number of visitors from January to September of this year reached only 83% of the tourist flow that existed before the pandemic, showed the best results in terms of tourism profitability. Thus, the profit from this area for the specified period in the country in the Pyrenees amounted to 68 billion 137 million euros — this is 92.3% of the income for the same period of the year before 2019. Then the annual profit of the country reached 73.8 billion euros. Thus, the average daily expenditure of each tourist who visited Spain amounted to 162 euros. And the average spending of a tourist for 9 months was 1,219 euros. At the same time, the average cost of an overnight stay was equal to 9.25 euros.
On the other hand, Turkey, which has shown high tourist attendance figures this year, reported that from the beginning of the year to September, inclusive, it received 95% of tourists from the same year-to-date volume of 2019. At the same time, it significantly lost to competitive Spain in terms of profitability.
According to the data published by the Statistical Office of Turkey, due to the change in the calculation method, the republic received income from tourism for $32 billion in 9 months of 2022. For comparison: in 2019, the profit was $26.6 billion — the indicator, despite inflation, increased by 31.5%.
Based on the expenses of one tourist, it turns out that on average in Turkey in the first quarter each vacationer spent $1,017, and in the second quarter – $881. In the third – only $855. It turns out that the average daily expenditure per tourist was only $89.
Experts associate the financial illness of the Turkish tourism sector with the peculiarities of doing business in the republic. Even though Turkey is rich in natural and cultural attractions, many vacationers come only to Antalya, Istanbul, or Bodrum. Other Turkish regions are not developing as rapidly as the top three, although their potential is also great. In recent years, the authorities have taken up the development and popularization of their Black Sea resorts.