Turkey’s average hotel occupancy rates plunged to a European low of 50.8% last year from 61.7% in 2015, Reuters reported on January 26, citing Hotel Association of Turkey (TUROB) data.
The country’s tourism industry felt the impact of a wave of terrorist attacks, growing geopolitical risks and tensions with Russia in 2016 which led to a temporary Moscow ban on charter flights taking Russians to holiday in Turkey. Ankara relies on the industry to generate much-needed hard currency to help finance the country’s current account deficit.
Not all the statistical data on tourism was bad, however - last December, Turkey’s hotels experienced a 1.6% y/y increase in the average occupancy rate to 49.2%.
The number of tourists visiting Turkey declined by 30.85% y/y to 24.05mn over January-November, according to the latest tourism ministry data. The decline in tourist visits measured 21.4% y/y in November to a number of 1.35mn, easing from the previous month’s sharper drop of 26% y/y.
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