Türkiye’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, announced the country’s tourism results for the third quarter and the first nine months of 2026 at a press conference in İstanbul. Tourism revenue reached USD 51.3 billion between January and September, up 2.4% year on year and the highest nine-month figure ever recorded. Third-quarter revenue alone rose 5% to a record USD 25.5 billion.
Minister Ersoy said: “This year, international travel has faced exceptional challenges. Conflicts in our region, airspace restrictions and rising energy and airfare costs have affected travel decisions, airline capacity and tour operator programmes alike. Amid these developments, Türkiye has stood out as an island of stability.
“Since 2018, we have taken deliberate steps to make our tourism sector more resilient to crises. By establishing the Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA), we made our promotion continuous and systematic; we expanded our source markets and diversified our tourism offers. Achieving the highest third-quarter and nine-month revenues in our history in such a year shows the value of this approach.
“In the period ahead, while protecting our position in our main markets, we will intensify our efforts in high-potential markets, particularly the Americas, Canada, East Asia, Africa and Oceania.”
In the first nine months of the year, the average length of stay rose 0.3% to 10.34 nights, and average spend per night rose 4.6% to USD 107.7. The total number of visitors stood at 49.1 million. The Russian Federation (5.70 million), Germany (5.17 million) and the United Kingdom (3.20 million) remained Türkiye’s three largest source markets.
