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Turkey ranked eighth in world with its tourism income of $18.2 bln |
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Written by TurkishDailyNews
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Monday, 30 October 2006 16:32 |
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Turkey's sun, sea and historic treasures earned the country the world's fastest growth rate in the world last year, beating both China and the United States with a total of $18.2 billion in tourism income it was revealed on Sunday in a report by the World Tourism Organization (WT0) reported the Anatolia news agency. In addition to the fastest growth rate, the new figures rank Turkey in eighth spot among countries in tourism income.
According to the WTO data, Germany reported $29.2 billion and Austria $14.9 billion.
Meanwhile, the United States held the No. 1 spot in the list with a yearly tourism income of $81.7 billion. That was 9.6 percent up from America's take a year earlier of $74.5 billion.
On the list, Spain followed the United States with a tourism income of $47.9 billion, up 5.8 percent on 2004. France earned $42.3 billion and Italy $35.4 billion. WTO data showed that Italy's tourism income declined 0.7 percent compared to 2004. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom earned $30.4 billion from tourism in 2005, while China earned $29.3 billion.
Turkey to report highest income increase in tourism:
Turkey's tourism income rose 14.2 percent from $15.9 billion in 2004 to $18.2 billion in 2005. According to the WTO data that's the highest percentage increase for last year among the 10 countries that are in the list. China followed Turkey with an increase of 13.8 percent and the United States with 9.6 percent.
Popular among tourists:
In terms of visitor numbers, France is the most attractive place to visit, the WTO said. Some 76 million tourists visited France in 2005, while 55.6 million visited Spain. The United States attracted 49.4 million, 46.8 million picked China, 36.5 million tourists visited Italy, the United Kingdom entertained 30 million and Mexico welcomed 21.9 million. Turkey ranked ninth in this list with 20.3 million. That's 26.1 percent higher than 2004's 16.8 million. Australia followed Turkey with 20 million tourists.
Tourism income figures of the top ten countries in 2004 and 2005 are as follows (billion USD):
Tourism Income
Countries 2004 2005 Difference (pct)
----------- ------------- ------------- ----------
USA 74.5 81.7 9.6
Spain 45.2 47.9 5.8
France 40.8 42.3 3.5
Italy 35.7 35.4 -0.7
Britain 28.2 30.4 7.6
China 25.7 29.3 13.8
Germany 27.7 29.2 5.6
Turkey 15.9 18.2 14.2
Austria 15.3 15.5 0.9
Australia 13.6 14.9 9.5
Number of Tourists
Countries 2004 2005 Difference (pct)
------- ------------- ------------- ----------
France 74.1 76.0 1.2
Spain 52.4 55.6 6.0
USD 46.1 49.4 7.2
China 41.8 46.8 12.1
Italy 37.1 36.5 -1.5
Britain 27.8 30.0 8.0
Mexico 20.6 21.9 6.3
Germany 20.1 21.5 6.8
Turkey 16.8 20.3 20.5
Austria 19.4 20.0 3.0
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