Foreign arrivals in Türkiye in the first seven months of 2023 leaped by 16.22% on an annual basis, according to official data shared on Friday showing that the country welcomed some 26.76 million foreign tourists between January and July.
A total of 30.09 million people visited Türkiye in the same period, together with over 3 million of its citizens living overseas, surpassing the record of 26.5 million visits in the same period of 2019, the Culture and Tourism Ministry said.
The boom in foreign visits, which continues throughout the buoyant summer season, was followed by a steady number in demand from Turkish citizens residing abroad, as nearly 3.32 million of them embarked on holiday within the country.
In July alone, Türkiye hosted over 7.14 million visitors, the data highlighted, posting an increase of 7.25% when compared to the same month of the previous year.
Istanbul, Türkiye's largest city by population and a top tourist draw welcomed 36.5% of all foreign visitors, or nearly 9.77 million, in the seven-month period, according to the data.
It was followed by the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya with 7.7 million foreign tourists and Edirne in northwestern Türkiye, which borders both Bulgaria and Greece, with 2.7 million foreign visitors, according to the data.
Antalya, one of the most famed tourist destinations, continued to attract a record number of visitors this year, surpassing the records of pre-pandemic arrivals, showcasing a promising surge in tourism data.
The city boasting unrivaled natural beauty while also offering mild temperatures throughout four seasons had a swift start to the summer season with a particularly booked period during a nine-day Qurban Bayram, or Eid al-Adha, a holiday that saw millions hit the road to vacation resorts.
While the lively season continues throughout the city, the number of tourists who visited the popular spot from Aug. 1 to Aug. 22 was recorded as 1,880,693, showing an increase of 20% when compared to the figure of the same month year-over-year, the data from provincial directorate for tourism noted earlier this week.
This year’s overall momentum to all arrivals in the country has been driven by an influx of holidaymakers from Europe, particularly Germany and the United Kingdom, besides arrivals from Russia which ranked first among nationalities of foreign tourists, mainly due to flight restrictions imposed by Western nations over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Arrivals from Russia in the seven-month period reached the figure of nearly 3.5 million, the Culture and Tourism Ministry data showed. They were followed by 3.21 million tourists coming to Türkiye from Germany and 2.6 million from the U.K.
These countries were followed by tourists arriving from Bulgaria and Iran, respectively.
The surge in arrivals mirrored the increase in the number of daily flights, particularly in the major transport hub Istanbul, in addition to the busy airports in the southern and southwestern resorts.
Istanbul's mega airport on the Black Sea coast recently claimed the title of the busiest airport in Europe, measured by the average number of daily flights between Aug. 14-21, cited by the report of the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol). According to the report, the airport that commenced operations in October 2018 boasted an average of 1,517 flights per day in the stated period.
Tourism revenues surged by 27% year-over-year to $21.7 billion in the first six months of 2023, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said last month, noting there was a more than 11% jump to almost $100 per capita overnight income.
The government sees foreign arrivals reaching 60 million this year, which it estimates will hit 90 million in 2028. For the income, it sees it rising to $56 billion this year and $100 billion five years from now.
Following the rebound after the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of foreign visitors surged 80.33% to 44.6 million in 2022, just shy of the peak of 45.1 million in 2019, often regarded as a "record year" for tourism.
