Turkey’s touristic metropolis, Istanbul hosted 5.8 million tourists in the first nine months of this year, already surpassing the numbers achieved throughout 2020 when the sector took a major blow from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In September alone some 975,916 tourists have visited the city, according to official data by the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism.

The number of tourists increased by 111% in September compared to the same month of the previous year, while the numbers have surged every month since March this year, the data showed.

Around 973,010 travelers came to Istanbul via air transportation in September while 2,906 arrived by sea, marking an increase of 112% and 6% respectively.

In September, some 1,311 tourists landed at the Atatürk Airport – which is mainly closed to passenger traffic – 284,328 tourists landed at Sabiha Gökçen Airport on the city’s Anatolian side and 687,171 tourists landed at the Istanbul Airport on the European side.

Istanbul Airport was preferred by 70% of foreigners arriving by air and Sabiha Gökçen Airport by 29%.

Meanwhile, Tuzla Port, Zeytinburnu Port, Ambarlı Port Haydarpaşa Port, Pendik Port, and Marmara Port were also used by visitors traveling to Istanbul.

Iranians rank first in September

Iranians made up the majority of foreigners who came to Istanbul in September with 105,958 tourists arriving from the country. Iranian tourists constituted some 10.86% of the total number of visitors in the month in question.

Iran is followed by Russia with 81,615 tourists, Germany with 79,384, Iraq with 53,953 tourists, France with 34,157 tourists, the U.S. with 33,198 tourists and Ukraine with 30,212 tourists.

These countries were followed by Jordan, Kuwait, Uzbekistan, Libya, the Netherlands, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt, the U.K., Kazakhstan, Sweden, Tunisia, Belgium, Spain, Syria, Italy and Switzerland, respectively.