Turkey welcomed 24.69 million foreign visitors in the first seven months of this year, according to new Culture and Tourism Ministry data.
The number of foreigners visiting the country rose 14.1% in January-July from the previous year, according to the data released Thursday. The historic metropolis of Istanbul remained Turkey’s top tourist draw, attracting 34.2% of all visitors — around 8.4 million.
RUSSIANS AND GERMANS ARE THE TOP NATIONALITIES
The Mediterranean resort city of Antalya followed with 31.8% or over 7.85 million foreign visitors in the same period.
Meanwhile, the number of foreign visitors climbed 16.7% to reach 6.6 million people year-on-year in July. Russians (1 million) and Germans (868,307) were the top nationalities of foreign visitors in the month, followed by the British (454,044).
In the month, Antalya, drawing 2.5 million people, was the top destination for foreigners, while Istanbul and Edirne welcomed 1.66 million and nearly 697,000 visitors.
The hotel occupancy rate was 76.1% in July, up 2.1% compared to the same month in 2018, while the average daily rate for rooms and revenue per room rose 14% and 16.4% to reach €100.3 ($112.4) and €76.3 ($85.45) in the month.