Ankara, Feb 1 (IANS): Turkey's tourism revenue rose by 103 per cent year-on-year in 2021 and reached $24.48 billion despite setbacks, the country's Statistical Institute said.

The country's tourism income increased significantly in the fourth quarter last year, registering a 95 per cent surge to $7.63 billion, Xinhua news agency reported.

It added that personal expenditures constituted 19.68 billion dollars of income in 2021, while package tour expenditures earned $4.8 billion.

Turkey's tourism was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic-related restrictions last year, particularly when Russia halted all flights to Turkey for about three months due to the soaring daily cases in the country.

The Russian market was significantly important for Turkey's coastal regions, especially for the Mediterranean province of Antalya.

In July and August 2021, multiple massive wildfires that gripped the world-renowned tourism spots along the Aegean and the Mediterranean coasts of Turkey also stunted tourism revenues, forcing many travellers to cancel their plans.

Last year, the country was also struggling against the depreciation of the Turkish lira, which lost 44 per cent of its value to the dollar.

Meanwhile, the country's vaccination efforts against Covid-19 have been continuing at full pace, and more than 141 million vaccine doses have been administered to date.

The rate of double-vaccinated people aged 18 and above hit 84.38 per cent as of Monday, according to the latest data released by the Health Ministry.

Turkey generated a total of $34.5 billion in revenue after receiving 45 million tourists in 2019, but it suffered losses of over 70 per cent in 2020 because of the pandemic.