The number of foreign visitors in Türkiye increased in November to almost 3 million, as the country is now all but sure to end the year with a new annual record, official data showed on Monday.
Foreign tourist arrivals rose 2.61% year-over-year to 2.8 million in November, according to figures released by the Culture and Tourism Ministry.
In the January-November period, the number of foreign visitors edged up 0.03% from a year earlier to 50.06 million, the ministry said.
On an annualized basis, total foreign arrivals were calculated at 53.5 million.
Foreign arrivals hit an all-time peak of 52.6 million last year, surpassing the previous record of 49.2 million in 2023.
Russia and Germany remained Türkiye's top source markets in November, followed by Iran. Arrivals from Russia increased by 10.25% compared with the same month last year, while visitor numbers from Germany rose by 9.93%, the data showed.
For the whole of 2025, Türkiye aims to attract 65 million visitors, including Turks living abroad, up from nearly 62.3 million last year.
That made Türkiye the world's fourth-most visited country, according to data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
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.
The tourism income jumped 8.3% in 2024 to $61.1 billion and blew past the previous high of $54.3 billion in 2023.
Revenues surpassed $50 billion in the first nine months of this year, a 5.7% year-over-year increase.
