Hotel occupancy rates in Türkiye rebounded in April following a sharp slump in March, data showed Friday, as the critical industry heads into a new season that officials and businesses expect to deliver another record year.

The overall occupancy rate in licensed accommodation facilities rose to 41.12% in April, up from 39.74% a year earlier and sharply higher than the 26.79% recorded in March, according to figures released by the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

The rate marked the highest April occupancy since the COVID-19 pandemic and the highest level since November 2024.

The total number of overnight stays reached 16.27 million to mark the best April to date, the data showed. It compared to 14.63 million stays in the same month last year.

Of those, 10.33 million were by foreign visitors and 5.94 million by domestic tourists.

Between January and April, overnight stays rose to 41.65 million, compared to 41.11 million a year ago.

The number of total visitors at the accommodation facilities exceeded 6 million in April, evenly split between international (2.96 million) and domestic (3.05 million) guests.

From January through April, the total count reached 21.7 million, including 7.75 million foreign and 10.91 million domestic guests.

The average length of stay also edged up, from 2.44 days last April to 2.48 days this year, the ministry said.

Overall hotel occupancy rate in the first four months was still slightly lower at 33.49%, compared to 34.36% a year ago.

Türkiye welcomed nearly 12.75 million visitors in the first four months of this year, according to official data, with April arrivals climbing over 8% year-over-year to 3.9 million, led by strong demand from Germany, Russia and the U.K.

Of the total January-April figure, 10.59 million were foreign nationals, while 2.15 million were Turkish citizens residing abroad.

Despite the strong April performance, overall foreign arrivals edged down 0.6% from the same period in 2024, when Türkiye had recorded 10.65 million foreign visitors in the first four months.

Germany retained its top position as the largest source of visitors to Türkiye, with 1.14 million Germans arriving between January and April.

It was followed by Russia with 977,152 visitors and Iran with 946,472. Bulgaria and the United Kingdom rounded out the top five source markets.

The upward trend in German tourism was especially visible in April, when arrivals rose by 31.32% year-over-year, reaching 571,042.

Germany was followed by Russia with 375,820 visitors and the U.K. with 373,922, which marked a 13.27% increase over April 2024.

Bulgaria and Iran were also among the leading markets for April.

Although year-to-date figures remained slightly below last year’s, the strong rebound in April, aided by early holiday travel and growing demand from key European markets, helped reverse the sluggish momentum observed in previous months.

Officials expect a further pickup in tourism activity heading into the peak summer season.

For the whole of 2025, the government remains committed to its target of attracting 65 million visitors and generating $64 billion in tourism revenue.

Foreign tourists’ arrivals jumped to 52.6 million last year, surpassing the previous record of 49.2 million in 2023.

That figure reached nearly 62.3 million when visits by Turks living abroad are included, making it the world’s fourth-most visited country, according to data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

Tourism is a vital industry that Türkiye relies on to help flip its chronic current account deficit to a surplus.

The sector contributes about 10% to Türkiye’s gross domestic product (GDP) and accounts for about 5% of total employment.

The tourism income jumped 8.3% in 2024 to $61.1 billion and blew past the previous high of $54.3 billion in 2023.

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