The number of foreign visitors arriving in Türkiye dropped slightly in July, data from the Culture and Tourism Ministry showed Friday.

Foreign arrivals totaled 7.1 million last month, down 0.3% from a year earlier, according to the data.

From January through July, the number of foreign visitors reached 27.86 million, a 2.29% decline from the same period in 2025, the ministry said.

Russia was Türkiye's largest source of foreign visitors in July, with just over 1 million arrivals. Germany ranked second, followed by the United Kingdom, according to the ministry data.

Türkiye welcomed a record 52.78 million foreign tourists in 2025, while combined with Turkish citizens living abroad, the count rose to a new all-time high of 63.94 million.

Tourism revenues increased 6.8% to $65.23 billion, surpassing the government's Medium-Term Program (OVP) target of $64 billion.

For 2026, the government targeted $68 billion, before the outbreak of the Iran war. The income in the first half of the year edged down 0.1% year-over-year to $25.75 billion.

Tourism is a vital industry that Türkiye relies on to help flip its chronic current account deficit to a surplus.

The sector contributes about 10% to Türkiye's gross domestic product (GDP) and accounts for about 5% of total employment.