The number of foreign tourists arriving in Türkiye rose to a record high as of November, official data showed Friday, leaving the country with a month to go to build on the peak in a buoyant year for the critical industry.
Foreign arrivals surged 10.82% year-over-year from January through November to 46.7 million, surpassing its pre-pandemic level of 42.9 million, the Culture and Tourism Ministry said.
Combined with over 6 million Turkish citizens living abroad, the number of visitors rose to 52.74 million in the first eleven months of the year.
In November alone, Türkiye attracted 2.5 million foreign tourists, falling 1% at an annualized pace, marking the first decline since the pandemic, the data showed.
The figure still exceeded the pre-pandemic period level of 2.2 million in November 2019.
Tourism is a critical source of revenue for Türkiye as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his government focus on reducing the current account deficit to tackle stubborn inflation.
Last year’s complete rebound from the pandemic fallout saw the number of tourists near a record, generating all-time high revenues and prompting the government to raise its annual estimates. The government anticipated a total of 60 million arrivals this year.
Tourism income rose over 20% from a year ago to $42 billion in the January-September period, according to official data.
This year’s momentum has been driven by an influx of holidaymakers from Europe, particularly Germany and the United Kingdom, besides arrivals from Russia, mainly due to flight restrictions imposed by Western nations over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Nearly 6.1 million Russians arrived in the first 11 months to top the list among nations, up from 4.9 million last year. Germany followed closely at almost 6 million, while the United Kingdom ranked third at 3.7 million, the data showed.
At 245,493, Russians made up 9.72% of all foreign visitors in November, followed by Germans at 244,005, Bulgarians at 222,884, Iranians at 203,618, and Georgians at 125,236
Istanbul welcomed 34.4% of all foreign visitors, or 16 million in the 11 months. The famed resort city of Antalya hosted 31% or 14.5 million tourists. Edirne followed with a 9.3% share or 4.4 million visitors.
The January-November arrivals surpassed that of the whole of 2022, when some 44.6 million tourists arrived, an 80.3% year-over-year increase and just shy of the earlier peak of 45.1 million in 2019.
Income climbed 53.4% to a record high of nearly $46.3 billion as the lingering effects of the pandemic dissipated and Russian arrivals skyrocketed after Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Tourism contributes about 10% to Türkiye’s gross domestic product (GDP). In addition, around 1.7 million people worked in accommodation and food services in 2022 – about 5% of total employment.
