The number of tourists visiting Turkey increased by 1.96 percent in the first 10 months of this year compared to the same period of 2008, data from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture have shown.
(Photo: Illustration photo)
More than 24.44 million tourists visited Turkey in the January-October period. The number of tourists visiting Turkey in October 2009 was 2.6 million, a 6.28 percent increase over the same month of the preceding year. Antalya received the highest number of tourists in the first 10 months with 7.89 million, or 32.25 percent of the total visitors to Turkey. The number of tourists visiting Istanbul totaled 6.37 million in the January-October period, accounting for 26 percent of overall tourists to Turkey. Mugla saw 2.98 million tourists in this period, or 11 percent of the total.
Germany sent the highest number of tourists to Turkey, with 4.38 million in the January-October period, an increase of 16.52 percent compared to the same period of 2008. Russia came in second with 2.5 million tourists in the same period, rising by 10.56 percent over the first 10 months of last year. The number of tourists from the UK to Turkey increased by 9.56 percent between the months of January and October this year over the same period of last year, reaching 2.3 million. Bulgaria, Iran, the Netherlands, Georgia, France, the US and Italy also ranked high on the list of countries sending tourists to Turkey in the first 10 months of the year.
