The streets of Turkey’s metropolis are swarming with foreign tourists flocking mostly for shopping and health tourism in a boost for the vital industry that is leaving the 2020-21 coronavirus slump behind despite fallout from the war in Ukraine.

Dominated by the Middle East and Gulf, foreign arrivals in Istanbul through April have surged 135% year-over-year to nearly 4 million, compared to about 4.4 million before the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Arrivals from Europe and the Americas are surging, but the industry still has ground to cover when it comes to market diversification, Turkey Hoteliers Union (TÜROB) Chair Müberra Eresin said.

The overall number of foreigners visiting Turkey in the first four months leaped 172.5% from a year ago to nearly 7.47 million, according to official data, compared to 2.74 million in 2021.

Eresin says the pandemic has mostly been left behind and the industry is marching toward its total recovery.

"2022 will be a much better year than 2021, and we will have seriously healed the wounds of the pandemic. 2023 will be even better," she told Anadolu Agency (AA).

"In the following years, we hope that our tourism revenues will increase to very serious levels and that Istanbul will become one of the first three shining destinations in the world again."

The number of foreign visitors soared 94.1% to 24.71 million and revenues doubled to almost $25 billion in 2021 when COVID-19 measures were eased compared to 2020.

Officials hope tourism this year could replicate or exceed the numbers from 2019 when some 52 million visitors brought in $34.5 billion in revenue.

Eresin says the figure could reach 42 million and $35 billion, respectively, this year.

"We are seeing an increasing demand for Turkey. Therefore, our positive expectations continue. But of course, as we always say, we feel compelled to say ‘if everything happens as we expect.’ These are expectations that will be valid if the current conditions get better before they get worse," she noted.

Known as a destination where Europe meets Asia that has long captivated visitors with its culture, art and history, Istanbul is seeing a significant increase in the number of foreigners arriving for shopping and health tourism.

According to a World Travel & Tourism Council report, Turkey is set to be the fourth most popular European destination this summer.

Still, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is expected to impact the arrivals from Turkey’s top tourist sources. Russians and Ukrainians were the country’s first and third biggest sources of visitors last year.

"Tourists of Middle Eastern and Gulf origin are currently dominating Istanbul tourism. The current vitality in the Middle East market continues," Eresin said.

But she stressed there are positive signals from other markets as well.

"The mobility has begun in the American and European markets. We expect tourist arrivals from Latin America to increase noticeably, as in past years. The Iranian market is going very well," she added.

She stressed the 370% increase in arrivals from South American countries from January through April. Arrivals from Europe, Japan and the U.S. also soared by 382%, 236% and 224%, Eresin added.

"Although we interpret these increases as a base effect, it gives great hope in terms of the coming months and years that the growth rates will reach three digits or even four digits in some markets," she said.

Eresin is optimistic and stressed the possibility that Turkey could cover the losses from Russia and Ukraine through other markets.

Eresin says hotels in Istanbul could reach occupancy rates of between 85% and 90% through July, August and September, driven by summer breaks, particularly in the Middle East.

"It seems that we will catch up with the occupancy rates of 2019 on a month-by-month basis," she noted.

"In the first four months of the year, occupancy rates in Istanbul were 63.7%, up 83% compared to the same period in 2021, room prices were 97.30 euros ($104.70), up 30%, and revenues per room were 61.80 euros, up 137%," she explained.

But she says they still have not achieved pre-pandemic rates, including those of 2019, when average occupancy rates were at 71.8% in the January-April period.