Like other regions in Europe and across the world, Turkey’s travel and tourism industry has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In August 2020, only 2.1 million tourists visited the country; a 69 percent drop compared to August 2019. In the first 8 months of 2020, Turkey’s total tourist arrivals recorded 9.2 million; a devastating drop of 74 percent compared to the same period last year.
DISTRIBUTION OF ARRIVING FOREIGN VISITORS BY YEARS AND MONTHS | |||||
| YEARS | RATE OF CHANGE (%) | |||
MONTHS | 2018 | 2019 | 2020* | 2019/2018 | 2020/2019 |
JANUARY | 1 461 570 | 1 539 496 | 1 787 435 | 5.33 | 16.11 |
FEBRUARY | 1 527 070 | 1 670 238 | 1 733 112 | 9.38 | 3.76 |
MARCH | 2 139 766 | 2 232 358 | 718 097 | 4.33 | -67.83 |
APRIL | 2 655 561 | 3 293 176 | 24 238 | 24.01 | -99.26 |
MAY | 3 678 440 | 4 022 254 | 29 829 | 9.35 | -99.26 |
JUNE | 4 505 594 | 5 318 984 | 214 768 | 18.05 | -95.96 |
JULY | 5 671 801 | 6 617 380 | 932 927 | 16.67 | -85.90 |
AUGUST | 5 383 332 | 6 307 508 | 1 814 701 | 17.17 | -71.23 |
SEPTEMBER | 4 792 818 | 5 426 818 | 13.23 | ||
OCTOBER | 3 755 467 | 4 291 574 | 14.28 | ||
NOVEMBER | 1 966 277 | 2 190 622 | 11.41 | ||
DECEMBER | 1 950 705 | 2 147 878 | 10.11 | ||
TOTAL | 39 488 401 | 45 058 286 |
| 14.11 |
|
8 MONTHLY TOTAL | 27 023 134 | 31 001 394 | 7 255 107 | 14.72 | -76.60 |
(*): Provisional Data. | |||||
Just like in the 2016 crisis, the Ukrainian tourism market draws the Turkish tourism industry’s attention in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In recent years, the tourist market share of Ukraine in Turkey has risen two-fold. According to the analysis of Turizmdatabank.com with data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and TURKSTAT; the share of Ukrainian tourists coming to Turkey rose to about 4% from 2% 10 years ago.
The table below shows Turkish tourism’s top source markets in the first 8 months of 2020.
NATIONALITY | 2020* | 2020 NAT. RATIO % | 2019 | 2019 NAT. RATIO % |
Germany | 789 602 | 10.88 | 3 384 199 | 10.92 |
Russia Fed. | 772 686 | 10.65 | 4 831 341 | 15.58 |
Bulgaria | 532 417 | 7.34 | 1 693 939 | 5.46 |
Ukraine | 520 833 | 7.18 | 1 106 456 | 3.57 |
United Kingdom (UK) | 465 180 | 6.41 | 1 849 764 | 5.97 |
OTHER | 4 174 389 | 57.54 | 18 135 695 | 58.50 |
GENERAL TOTAL | 7 255 107 | 100.00 | 31 001 394 | 100.00 |
The number of travelers from Germany records 76.6% drop, Russian Federation 84%, Bulgaria 68.5%, Ukraine 53%, and the U.K. 74.8%.
In the 2016 crisis, the number of Ukrainian tourists visiting Turkey rose to a record increase from 706 thousand to 1 million. The recovery in the market continued in the 2017-2019 period, exceeding the 1.5 million mark.
The drop in tourist arrivals from Ukraine is well below the total percentage.
During this period when all markets declined, Ukraine’s share increased. Ukraine’s share of 3.2% in 8 months of 2019 has increased to the 8% band this year. In particular, 15% of tourists coming to Turkey in July and August were obtained from the Ukrainian market.
Ukraine, which has shown such a significant improvement in the number of tourists, also shows a recovery in tourism expenditures and tourism income for Turkey.
According to TurkStat findings, Ukrainian tourists visiting Turkey in the last 10 years spent around US$400 to US$450 range per person. Per capita expenditures reached the level of US$1000 for non-package, individual expenditures.
However, per capita income from the Ukrainian market is in a downward trend. Package tour expenditure, which was around US$450 USD in 2012, decreased to US$415 in 2019; Individual spend per capita decreased from US$1,400 to US$1,000.
As 65-70% of the incoming Ukrainian tourists use package tours, the tourism income obtained is also relatively low.
The rapid increase of package tours might be the reason behind the uninterrupted growth of the Ukrainian market.
The number of Ukrainian package tour tourists, which was around 350 thousand in 2012, reached 850 thousand in 2019. Individual arrivals are only around 380 thousand. While the package tourist has grown by 40% in the last 10 years, individual entries have stayed below 10%.
The number of tourists from Ukraine. in Million
Total tourists visited Turkey | Ukrainian tourists visited Turkey | Ukrainian | |
2005 | 21,12 | 0,38 | 1,8 |
2010 | 28,63 | 0,57 | 2,0 |
2015 | 36,24 | 0,71 | 1,9 |
2016 | 25,35 | 1,05 | 4,1 |
2017 | 32,41 | 1,28 | 4,0 |
2018 | 39,49 | 1,39 | 3,5 |
2019 | 45,06 | 1,55 | 3,4 |
2020 | 7,25 | 0,52 | 15,23* |
(*Jully-August average)
