Foreign visits to Türkiye jumps 85% in January-November

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) – The number of foreign tourists who visited Türkiye surged 84.8% year-on-year to 42.2 million in January-November, according to official data released on Friday.

The January-November figure stood at 12 million in 2020 and 22.8 million in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Culture and Tourism Ministry data showed.

Istanbul, Türkiye's most famous city and its largest by population, was the top draw for foreign visitors, attracting 14.7 million tourists.

It was followed by the resort city of Antalya with 12.6 million visitors, while Edirne, a city in Türkiye's northwest bordering Bulgaria and Greece, welcomed 4.3 million tourists.

At 5.5 million, Germans made up 13% of all visitors, followed by Russians at nearly 5 million, Britons 3.3 million, Bulgarians 2.6 million, and Iranians at 2.2 million.

When the Turkish citizens living abroad are added to the count, the 11-month figure goes up to 47.6 million.

In November alone, foreign arrivals in Türkiye soared 44.6% on an annual basis to 2.6 million.

Russia was the country with the most visitors to Türkiye, with 312,486, followed by Bulgaria (232,709), Germany (207,340), Iran (154,643), and Georgia (151,057).