Turkey sees 14.5% surge in number of foreign visitors

The number of international visitors to Turkey surged 14.5% year-on-year to 40.7 million this January-October, said the country’s Culture and Tourism Ministry on Friday. The Mediterranean resort city of Antalya saw the highest figure, with 14.1 million in the first 10 months. Istanbul, Turkey's largest city by population and a top tourist draw, was the number two destination, drawing 12.7 million foreign visitors.

Russian was the top nationality of visitors from abroad, with 6.7 million, accounting for 16.44% of all foreign visitors entering Turkey.

It was followed by Germany (4.7 million), the U.K. (2.4 million), Bulgaria (2.3 million), and Iran (1.8 million).

In October, 4.3 million foreign visitors came to Turkey, up 14.3% year-on-year.

Antalya and Istanbul received 38% and 31.4% of the total foreign visitors, respectively, last month. 

Last year, the country welcomed 39.5 million foreign visitors, up 22% from 2017.