Sustainability Trends in Turkish Tourism: A Longitudinal Analysis of Tourist Arrivals, Overnights and Occupancy Rates (2000–2024)

This study aims to evaluate the sustainability performance of the Turkish tourism sector over a long-term period spanning from 2000 to 2024 by using official national tourism statistics. Key indicators such as tourist arrivals, overnight stays, average length of stay, and occupancy rates were analyzed to identify temporal trends and structural dynamics in the sector. The methodology includes data normalization, year-over-year (YoY) percentage change analysis, and multi-criteria decision-making through the TOPSIS technique. Findings reveal a steady increase in total arrivals and overnights, especially during the post-pandemic recovery years of 2021–2024, while the average length of stay has shown a long-term downward trend. Occupancy rates exhibit volatility during periods of economic and health-related crises, particularly in 2016 and 2020. The TOPSIS results rank 2024 as the year with the highest sustainability performance. The study emphasizes the necessity of integrating not only quantitative growth but also qualitative sustainability indicators into national tourism strategies. It provides a comprehensive evaluation framework and contributes methodologically to the literature by combining temporal tourism statistics with decision-support models.