Tourism in İstanbul Amid Pandemic: Only 960 Tourists Came to the City in April

* Photo: Pixabay

The İstanbul Statistical Office of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İMM) has released its June 2020 Tourism Bulletin, which also covers the period of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Shared on the official website of the Statistical Office earlier today (June 11), the tourism bulletin has been prepared based on the data of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Turkish Hoteliers Union (TÜROB) and General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ).

Accordingly, the bulletin of the municipality has briefly shared the following figures and statistics about the accommodation facilities, number of domestic and foreign tourists and air and sea travel:

Occupancy rate in April: 7.7 percent

The number of people coming to the accommodation facilities of İstanbul in April 2020 was 146.898. When compared to the same month last year, this figure marks a 88.9 percent decrease. When compared with the previous month, it also marks a decrease of 74.1 percent.

As for the rate of foreign tourists accommodated at the facilities in the city, it dropped from 65 percent in April 2019 to 48 percent this April.

When the number of nights that the tourists spent in these facilities is comparatively analyzed, it has been seen that it also dropped by 87.4 percent in a year and was calculated as 377.544 nights.

As for the occupancy rate of accommodation facilities in İstanbul in April 2020, the Statistical Office has cited this rate as 7.7 percent. This figure marks a 88.8 percent decrease in comparison with April 2019. The occupancy rate of accommodation facilities in March 2020 was 24.3 percent.

Revenue per room decreased by 44.6 percent

As underlined by the office, as a result of the changes in the foreign exchange rates, the daily room prices on average decreased by 44.6 percent in April in a year and was calculated as 50.7 Euro.

When the revenue derived per room is calculated based on these figures, it has been seen that it dropped by 89.8 percent and became 7.92 Euro.

24.238 tourists came to Turkey in April

According to the figures of the Municipality, in April 2020, when intercity travel to İstanbul was banned as part of pandemic measures, the number of tourists coming to İstanbul dropped by 99.9 percent.

"Due to the Covid-19 measures, the number of tourists who came to İstanbul in April dropped by 99.7 percent in comparison to the previous month and realized as 960," the Statistical Office has further indicated.

Sharing details about the tourists who came to Turkey in April, the Statistical Office has indicated that while this number dropped by 99.6 percent in comparison with March 2020 (24,238 tourists in total), it dropped by 99.3 percent when compared with the figures in April 2019.

925 foreign visitors came to the city by air

According to the figures shared by the Municipality, the number of foreign visitors who came to İstanbul by air in April was 925 while the number of those who came by sea was 35.

When the number of foreign tourists who came to İstanbul by air in April 2020 is compared with March 2020 and April 2019, it is seen that this number dropped by 371,785 and 1,325,693 people, respectively.

When the same calculation is done for the tourists coming to the city by sea in April, this number fell by 1,356 people in comparison with March 2020 and by 3,215 in comparison with the same month last year.

While no foreign tourists came to Sabiha Gökçen Airport in April, İstanbul Airport received the highest number of foreign tourists with 669 people.

While 12,901 citizens entered İstanbul throughout April 2020, the number of citizens who left the city was 12,246.

Air traffic dropped by 99.7 percent

The number of passengers who came or left İstanbul by air in May 2020 was 25.900, which marks a decrease of 99.7 percent in comparison to May 2019 and a decrease of 22.6 percent in comparison to April 2020.

While 5,385 of these passengers were domestic passengers, 20,515 of them were international passengers. (SD)