The number of tourists arriving in Türkiye rose by nearly 9.3% in October from a year ago, official data showed on Friday, in a momentum that is said to show the country would achieve its upgraded year-end target.
Foreign arrivals reached 5.5 million, according to figures from the Culture and Tourism Ministry.
Germans made up the largest group of visitors, with 925,928, rising 7.6% year-over-year, the data showed.
They were followed by Russians at 776,618 (up 15.5% annually), Britons at 530,568 (up 20.2%), Iranians at 281,169 (up 27.6%) and Bulgarians at 277,169 (up 4.2%).
From January through October, the number of foreigners visiting Türkiye increased by over 7% at an annualized pace to 47.3 million. That figure reaches 54.63 million when visitors of Turkish origin are included.
The government last month revised upward its target and said it expects the overall figure to reach 61 million at the end of 2024, up from an earlier estimate of 60 million.
“The momentum in the tourism sector shows that our country is steadily moving toward the targeted 61 million total visitors and approximately $60 billion in total tourism revenue by the end of the year,” Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said on Friday.
Ersoy’s remarks came during his presentation at the 2025 budget discussions of the ministry before the Parliament’s Planning and Budget Commission.
Türkiye welcomed a record of around 49.2 million foreign tourists in 2023, spearheaded by arrivals from Russia and Europe, mainly Germany and the United Kingdom.
Ersoy earlier said the government estimates 64 million visitors and $64 billion in revenues in 2025.
That trend hasn’t changed so far this year.
Most foreign tourists in the January-October period came from Russia, at 6.25 million, followed by Germany, at nearly 6.1 million, and the U.K., at 4.2 million, the data showed.
In October, the renowned resort city of Antalya on the Turkish Riviera saw the largest number of foreign visitors, nearly 2 million.
Istanbul, Türkiye’s largest city by population, came in second with 1.7 million visitors. The Aegean province of Muğla followed with 408,013 foreign tourists.
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 inflation.
Türkiye’s tourism revenues rose 6.6% year-over-year to 46.9 billion in the first nine months. The government sees it reaching $60 billion by the end of the year.
Revenues hit an all-time high of $54.32 billion in 2023, according to the official data.
