ISTANBUL: Turkey tourism revenues were down 27.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2016, state-run agency Turkstat said Tuesday, noting income was recorded at 4.7 billion dollars. Tourism revenue for last year as a whole dropped 29.7 per cent, to 22.1 billion dollars, of which nearly 73 per cent came from foreign visitors, while the rest was domestic spending. It was a rough year for tourism as Turkey was hit by a failed coup attempt, numerous terrorist attacks, including by Islamic State, and an intensifying conflict with Kurdish militants demanding greater autonomy for the minority group.
The decline in tourism was already noted in the second half of 2015 amid the political instability. The Tourism Ministry says foreign visitor numbers declined in the first 11 months of 2016 by 30 per cent after the previous year saw a drop of just over 1 per cent.
