By Gokhan Ergocun
ISTANBUL (AA) - Türkiye hosted 9.5 million foreign tourists in the first four months of this year, according to official figures revealed on Friday.
The number of foreign arrivals in January-April rose 27.51% on a yearly basis, the country's Culture and Tourism Ministry stated.
Istanbul, Türkiye's largest city by population and a top tourist draw, welcomed over half of all foreign visitors, or nearly 4.77 million, in the four-month period.
It was followed by the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya with 1.6 million foreign tourists and Edirne in northwestern Türkiye, which borders both Bulgaria and Greece, with 1.1 million foreign visitors.
As for the nationalities of foreign tourists, Russia took first place with 12.1% — nearly 1.15 million visitors — over the same period, followed by Germany (10.14%) and Bulgaria (8.37%).
In April alone, 3.3 million foreigners visited the country, up 29.03% on a yearly basis.