The Culture and Tourism Ministry yesterday said Turkey had seen around 29 million tourists in the first 10 months of this year, an increase of 28 percent compared to the same period last year
Following a sharp decline in the number of visitors in 2016, a year that included a series of terrorist attacks and a failed coup, Turkey's tourism industry has recovered in 2017 with a continuous rise in the number of foreign tourists coming to the country.
The Culture and Tourism Ministry announced yesterday that around 29 million people visited Turkey in the first 10 months of the year, an increase of 28 percent compared to 22.7 million in the same period last year.The holiday resort city of Antalya, on the Mediterranean coast, recorded the highest number of visitors with 9.25 million. Istanbul, the country's largest city by population and one of the top tourism destinations, was second among all cities with border gates, with around 9 million visitors from abroad.
Russian tourists made their way to Turkey the most, constituting 15.7 percent - some 4.5 million visitors - according to statistics on foreign visitors' nationalities, followed by Germans at 11.5 percent and Iranians at 7.3 percent.
Official data also showed that flying was the most preferred for of transportation, with 21.4 million travelers, while 6.9 million and around 700,000 visitors came by land and sea routes, respectively.
The ministry figures show a gradual recovery came after the lifting of the ban on tourist flights from Russia and overcoming terrorist attacks. Last year, 25.3 million foreigners entered the country and the number of arriving foreigners was 36.2 million in 2015.
ANTALYA TOP RESIDENTIAL SPOT FOR FOREIGNERSAntalya, which sees more than 10 million tourists a year, is among the favorite residential centers for foreigners. In the city of 60,534 inhabitants from more than 100 countries, Russians leads the way at 9,035, Doğan News Agency (DHA) reported yesterday.
In Turkey, which has 816,410 foreign residents, Antalya is among the provinces that have the largest number of foreign residents.
According to results of address-based population registrations (ADNKS), 60,534 foreign nationals lived in Antalya as of the end of 2016. Many foreigners from more than 100 countries who live in Antalya work in business in various fields, mainly tourism. A significant amount of foreign residents in Antalya are retired seniors.
Russians constitute the highest percentage of foreigners in Antalya at 9,035, followed by Germans with 8,653 people, Kazakhs with 5,628, Ukrainians with 5,318 and Kyrgyz with 4,975. Nationalities with more than 1,000 people living in Antalya are Azerbaijanis with 2,868, Iranians with 2,413, Iraqis with 1,946, Georgians with 1,625, Uzbeks with 1,561, Britons with 1,511 and Dutch with 1,292 people.
It is possible to see people from nearly every country in Asia, Europe, Africa and North America in Antalya.
According to statistics of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), other nationalities with 1,000 people and below living in Antalya are Syrians with 933, Turkmens with 775, Moldovans with 762, Indonesians with 683, Norwegians with 623, Belarussians with 619, Danish with 608, Austrians with 531, Swedish with 520, Afghans with 480, Belgians with 457, Fins with 396, Americans with 372, Chinese with 361, Bulgarians with 236, Swiss with 212, Poles with 204, Thai with 197, Moroccans with 193, French with 191, Libyans with 186, Tunisians with 177, Brazilians with 169, the Filipinos with 145, Egyptians with 135, Turkish Cypriots with 131, Italians with 128, Lithuanians with 120, Romanians with 113, Tajiks with 110, Jordanians, Mongolians and Czechs with 105 people each, Ghana with 86, Canada with 82, Palestine with 71, Ireland and Ethiopia with 69 people each, Yemenis and Spaniards with 64 each, Australians with 60, Greeks with 56, Pakistanis and Indians with 53 each, Lebanese with 52, Nigerians with 51, Serbians with 49, Armenians with 48, Nepalese and Algerians with 46 each, Bosnians with 43, Kosovars with 42, Albanians with 40, South Africans with 37, Somalis with 36, Macedonians, Japanese and Sudanese with 34 each, Kenyans with 33, South Koreans with 22, Saudis with 21, Senegalese with 16, Cameroons and Bangladeshis with 15 each and Vietnamese with 10.