Anatalia, Turkey
Photo: Ahiya Raved
Turkey tourism is down by 6%
North American, European tourists decide to waive Turkish destinations following steep fall in number of Israeli tourists to visit Euro-Asian country
The current economic
and political turmoil in Europe has taken its toll on the Turkish tourism industry which suffered a significant decline in
the number of tourists visiting the country, according to data published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (Turkstat).
The decline in tourist influx was mainly noted in the number of tourists visiting from Germany and Austria. The number of tourist arrivals from Germany dropped by 6.5% in 2012, while the number of Austrian tourists that visited Turkey showed a steeper decline of 23.5%.
Tourist arrivals in the first quarter of 2012 dropped by 6%, compared to the previous year.
The steep drop in tourism chiefly derives from a decline in the number of tourists visiting Turkey from North America and Western Europe – regions which used to compose the majority of the Turkish tourism clientele.
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Belgian tourists too stopped visiting the Euro-Asian country with a drop of 14% in tourist influx, and a more significant drop of 16% was noted in the number of French tourists visiting Turkey.
Similar numbers appeared in the number of Eastern European tourists that visited the county. The number of Russian tourists that visited Turkey over the past year dropped by 10%.
North American tourism to Turkey also suffered a decline with a decrease of 6% in US tourism to the country and a 17% drop in Canadian tourism to Turkey.
The number of Israeli tourists that visit Turkey also continues to significantly drop. In 2012 a mere 24% visited the Euro-Asian country.
While the number of tourists from Western countries falls, more and more tourists from Arab countries visit Turkey every year. According to the data, there was a 535% increase in Libyan tourists that visited Turkey in 2011, and a 107% growth of Qatari visitors.
Iraqi and Kuwaiti tourists also favored Turkey in 2012 with a rise of 29% and 57% respectively.
