ANKARA

Türkiye earned $42 billion from tourism in the first nine months of this year, a figure that rose 20.1% year-on-year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) reported on Tuesday.

The country hosted 44.6 million visitors in January-September, an increase of 13.2% from the same time last year.

In the third quarter of this year, tourism income increased 13.1% from the prior year to $20.2 billion. Some 16.5%, of tourism income was generated by visits of Turkish nationals residing abroad, TurkStat data showed.

The country saw 22.4 million visitor arrivals in July-September, while the figure stood at 21 million last year.

Some 12%, or 2.7 million, were Turkish citizens living in other countries.

The average spending per night for each individual totaled $103 in three months to September, with visitors' average total expenditures at $902 per capita.

Spending on sports, education, and culture surged by 33.3%, on accommodation by 26.1%, and on food and beverage by 24.6%, while tour services expenditures dropped 1.6% year-on-year in the third quarter.