Turkey’s cheap travel reputation is being undone by high costs

IN RECENT summers, Turkey became a go-to travel destination for UK-based Donna and Dave Needham, who took advantage of the country’s reputation as an affordable getaway on Europe’s doorstep.

On a trip to Turkey’s Mediterranean coast this summer, however, they said they experienced a “massive” price difference compared with years past. They were priced out of the resort they’d previously visited and noticed their usual vacation activities had become much more expensive. A 15-minute jet-ski ride, for instance, had jumped to £90 (US$122) from £20 just a year ago.

The Needhams, schoolteachers who also run a small travel agency, said they’ve visited Turkey with their children five times since 2021. Donna Needham added: “It won’t be our first choice next year.”

One culprit is Turkey’s exchange rate policy, in which the pace of the lira’s depreciation is kept below that of inflation. With the exchange rate often seen as a barometer of Turkey’s economic health, officials want to stem the effects that the currency’s weakness has on costs. The aim is to ease inflation and the burden on Turkish consumers, but it also makes the country more expensive to visitors arriving with foreign currencies.

Tour operators and travel agencies say this and other factors, such as the proximity of the Iran war, are affecting tourists’ appetite to visit the country as well as operators’ ability to continue to market Turkish destinations affordably.

“A lot of people used to treat Turkey as a cheap destination,” said Tony Basoglu, who runs a trading company and rents villas in Antalya province, a tourism hotspot. “That’s no longer the case. People come here and still have a lovely time, but it’s no longer cheap as chips.”

Overall tourism arrivals fell 3.6 per cent year over year in May, 4 per cent in June and another 0.3 per cent in July, according to data from Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry. European visitors have accounted for some of the largest dropoffs. 

Last month marked a yearly decline of 11 per cent for UK tourists, who make up the country’s third-largest share of foreign visitors. Holiday Extras, a UK-based travel company, has seen demand once held for Turkey redirected towards more affordable destinations, such as Slovenia, Montenegro and Tunisia.

Turks have also begun to look elsewhere in increasing numbers. For years, many of those who could secure visas have found it cheaper to go abroad, including to neighbouring Greece, than to holiday in their own country. The number of domestic holiday trips in 2025 contracted from the year before, according to the most recent data compiled by the state-run Turkish Statistical Institute – the first decline since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Although fewer foreign tourists are coming, they appear to be spending more, meaning the drop in arrivals hasn’t yet affected Turkey’s tourism revenue, which accounted for 4.1 per cent of gross domestic product in 2025. The country also relies on tourism-driven FX inflows to support its external balance and stabilise the lira.

For tourism investors, the real problem is not visitor numbers but maintaining margins under the pressure of rising costs and the exchange rate policy, said Emre Narin, vice-chairman of Marti Otel Isletmeleri, which operates properties in the Turkish Riviera.

The Iran war breaking out “at the peak early reservation period” exacerbated difficulties, Narin added. “The season got off to a rocky start. Business started to pick up only in July.” BLOOMBERG