Visitors to Turkey's museums and archaeology sites up 57 percent in January year-on-year

Nearly 878,000 people visited Turkish museums and archeological sites in January, up 57 percent from the same month last year, the Culture and Tourism Ministry announced Tuesday.

In addition to visitors, museum and historic sites also took in more revenue, said the ministry website.

In January revenues from Turkish museums and archeological sites totaled 14.5 million Turkish liras ($3.84 million), skyrocketing 236 percent from the same month in 2017.

January's most-visited places in Turkey were Istanbul's Topkapı Palace Museum and Hagia Sophia Museum, the Mevlana Rumi Museum in the central province of Konya, Denizli Hierapolis (Pamukkale) in the western province of Denizli, and the ancient city of Ephesus in the Aegean province of Izmir.

Meanwhile sales of the general admission card to museums and historic sites, Müzekart, ballooned 167 percent in January 2018 compared to January 2017.

This January, revenue from Müzekart sales totaled TL 3.6 million ($965,000).

Since 2008, when it was first offered, some 59,000 Müzekarts have been sold.

Müzekart enables people to visit at least 300 ministry-affiliated museums and archeological sites and is valid for one year.

A Müzekart+ currently costs TL 50 ($13) and can be bought online as well as at Müzekart sales points.