The number of stays by tourists at Turkey’s accommodation facilities surpassed 80 million in 2019, with a 12.38% increase year-on-year, while overnight stays were recorded at nearly 211 million, increasing by 10.8% compared to the year before.

Around 62.8% of the guests at the accommodation facilities were foreigners, reported Anadolu Agency (AA) citing Culture and Tourism Ministry data.

The report said the number of visitors, who stayed at a ministry or municipality-certified facility, reached 80.8 million.

The average duration of the stays in the facilities was recorded slightly over two-and-a-half days while the occupancy rate was 53.48%.

Some 24.68% of the overnight stays recorded last year were in municipality-approved accommodation facilities while 75.32% of them were in ministry-approved facilities.

The facilities recorded the highest number of visitors during June and October, while the most number of overnight stays were recorded between April and October.

The highest occupancy rate in 2019 was recorded in August at 77.5% while the lowest levels were between November and March.

Russians lead the way with the highest number of overnight stays (23%), followed by tourists from Germany (19%), the U.K. (7%), Ukraine (3%) and Poland (2.9%).

The southern Turkish resort city of Antalya was the leading province with the highest number of tourists staying at the facilities. It was followed by Istanbul, western Muğla and İzmir provinces and the capital Ankara.

In the number of overnight stays, Antalya ranked first again, followed by Istanbul, Muğla, İzmir and western province of Aydın, respectively.

The high-star hotels ranked first among the accommodation facilities, as around 38% of the visitors stayed there. Municipality-approved facilities came second, while four-star hotels with ministry approval became the third-preferred facilities. First-class holiday resorts were the fifth most preferred accommodation service.