The number of foreign visitors arriving in Türkiye in July reached an all-time high on a monthly basis, official data showed on Friday.
Arrivals rose 2.6% year-over-year to more than 7.3 million, the Culture and Tourism Ministry said. The figure represents the highest number of tourists recorded in a single month in the country’s history.
Tourists from Germany topped the list among nations with over 1 million arrivals last month, the data showed. They were followed by Russia at around 922,000 and the United Kingdom at 660,906 arrivals.
Between January and July, the total number of foreign visitors rose by 8.27% from a year ago, reaching 28.98 million – a clear indication of the sector’s robust recovery and growing appeal.
Combined with 4.49 million Turkish citizens arriving from abroad, the figure reached 33.47 million, the ministry said.
The foreign exchange it brings makes tourism vital to Türkiye, which is keen to flip current account deficits to a surplus, prioritizing exports, production and investments while curbing rising inflation.
Foreign arrivals hit a record 49.2 million in 2023, up from 44.6 million tourists who arrived in 2022, driven by visitors from Russia and Europe, mainly Germany and the United Kingdom.
The influx from Russia stems mainly from flight restrictions imposed by Western nations over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russians led the way in the first seven months with over 3.6 million arrivals, the data showed. They were followed by Germans and Britons with with 3.5 million and 2.4 million arrivals, respectively.
Türkiye’s tourism income climbed to an all-time high of $54.32 billion, compared to $46.48 billion in 2022.
The government expects arrivals to reach 60 million this year before hitting 90 million in 2028.
The income is envisaged to rise to $60 billion by the end of 2024 and $100 billion five years from now.
In July, the Mediterranean resort of Antalya continued to be the most popular destination, drawing 35.5% of all foreign tourists, followed by the country’s metropolis and the most populous city, Istanbul, which attracted 25.98%.
Other significant destinations included Edirne with 10.95%, Muğla with 9.53% and Izmir with 4.12% of the total visitors.
Looking at the year’s first seven months, Istanbul topped the list, welcoming 36.12% of all foreign visitors.
Antalya followed closely with 29.3%, while Edirne, Muğla and Artvin drew 9.85%, 6.66% and 3.21% of visitors, respectively, the data showed.
