9.4 billion lira revenue was generated from visits to museums and historical sites in 5 years.

With the opening of new museums in different provinces, the implementation of the "Museum Card" application and other technologies, the spread of night museums, and the return of many artifacts smuggled abroad, activity in museums and historical sites in Türkiye is increasing every year.

According to information compiled by an AA correspondent from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) data, the number of museums in the country reached 636 last year, and the number of visitors to museums and historical sites reached 61,687,726.

In parallel with the increasing number of museums and museum visitors, the income from paid visits to museums and archaeological sites affiliated with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has exceeded 9 billion lira in the last 5 years.

In 2020 and 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic occurred, the income from visits to museums and historical sites remained below that of previous years.

The revenues from these visits, which were calculated as 744 million 235 thousand 981 lira in 2019, decreased to 169 million 308 thousand 387 lira in 2020 due to the limitation of international and intercity travel.

Although revenues increased in 2021 compared to the previous year and reached 362 million 270 thousand 93 lira, they remained below the pre-pandemic period.

With the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on transportation eliminated, revenues reached 1 billion 76 million 7 thousand 587 lira in 2022.

The total revenue from paid visits to museums and archaeological sites affiliated with the Ministry, which was 2 billion 666 million 691 thousand 663 lira the following year, reached 5 billion 158 million 308 thousand 599 lira last year.

Thus, revenues in the 5-year period covering 2020-2024 reached 9 billion 432 million 586 thousand 329 lira.

The number of "Museum Cards" sold by the Ministry also increased significantly during this period.

While 758,509 cards were sold in 2020, when the pandemic affected, this number increased to 5,964,575 last year. The number of cards sold in the five-year period covering 2020-2024 was 15,667,07.