Turkey's domestic tourism expenditure increased by 52.9 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2017, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) on Tuesday.
From April to June, residents' spending reached 6.88 billion Turkish liras (around $1.92 billion), up from 4.5 billion Turkish liras (nearly $1.55 billion) compared to same period last year.
"In this quarter, domestic visitors made 110.5 million overnights, while [the] average number of overnights was 6.2," TurkStat said, noting average expenditure per trip was 388 Turkish liras (some $108).
According to Turkey's Central Bank, the average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 3.58 in the second quarter of this year, while one dollar traded for 2.89 liras on average in the same period of 2016.
Official data revealed 14.12 million residents took domestic trips in the second quarter, and the number of domestic trips with one or more than one overnights rose by 46.7 percent on a yearly basis, totaling 17.7 million trips.
- VISITING RELATIVES
The institute said the primary purpose of domestic trips was visiting relatives, accounting for a 68.6-percent share in the April-June period.
"The secondary purpose of trips was travel, leisure, holiday with 19 percent, and the third was health with 5.5 percent," TurkStat said.
By type of accommodation, domestic visitors stayed mostly at the house of a friend or relative -- 76.4 percent of total overnights -- while "own house" took second place with 9.6 percent and "hotel" took third place with a 7.5 percent share.
According to TurkStat, the number of residents in Turkey was 79.8 million as of December, 31, 2016.
Last year, the country's domestic tourism expenditure amounted to nearly 28 billion Turkish liras (some $9.3 billion), as 68.4 million trips with one or more than one overnights were recorded.
The primary reason for most of these trips -- 65.9 percent -- was "visiting relatives".
The second-most common purpose was "travel, leisure, holiday" -- 21.5 percent -- and the third was "health" with 6.3 percent.
In 2016, according to the number of overnights by type of accommodation, domestic visitors stayed mostly at the "house of a friend or relative" -- around 414 million overnights.
"Own house" took second place with 107.8 million overnights; "hotel" took third place with nearly 41 million overnights.
