Abstract

This study aims to analyze the determinants of international tourism demand for Turkey in the 2000s. The number of tourists in the top 10 tourist-originating countries for Turkey (Germany, Russia, UK, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Iran, France, Greece, Austria, and Belgium) between 2002 and 2022 is employed as the dependent variable in the study. Previous studies have identified the following determinants of international tourism demand: Income and price levels, the Turkish Lira’s real effective exchange rate, distance of tourist-originating countries from Turkey, and political stability indices of tourist-originating countries. The results indicate that tourist-originating countries’ per capita income and political stability increase Turkey’s international tourism demand. Conversely, an increase in the general level of prices in the originating countries or the value of the Turkish Lira has a negative impact on demand. Additionally, the distance to Turkey is one of the factors that negatively affects demand. Empirical findings suggest that a macro tourism policy focused only on relatively cheap goods and services will be insufficient for Turkey.