Published on : Saturday, December 29, 2018
The number of foreign arrivals in Turkey rose significantly in the January-November period, compared with the same period last year.
It is according to the data revealed on December 28 by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, more than 37.5 million foreigners visited the country in the first 11 months of 2018, up 22.3 percent year-on-year.
The figures showed Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city by population and tourism capital and one of its top tourist draws, and the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya attracted the highest number of foreign visitors — 12.4 million and 12.3 million, respectively.
The Russians accounted for over 15 percent or nearly 5.9 million of the visitors, followed by Germans with 11.6 percent (4.3 million visitors), and the U.K. with nearly 6 percent (2.2 million).
After a bad period inked to security problems, terrorist attacks and the 2016 attempted coup, Turkey has this year got back on its feet and seen a record-breaking year for tourism.
The tourists from UK showed the biggest increase in arrivals from European countries, rising 36.5 percent to 2.21 million in the first 11 months.
The number of Russian tourists grew 26.2 percent to 5.87 million and German tourists increased by 25.6 percent to 4.33 million.