Foreign arrivals in Türkiye jumped by nearly 14% in the first eight months of the year, according to official data Friday, adding to the buoyant summer season and expected continuation of bookings further into fall.
Over 33.4 million foreigners visited Türkiye from January through August, the Culture and Tourism Ministry said, marking a jump of 13.95% year-over-year.
Arrivals in August alone rose by 5.65% when compared to the same month the previous year to more than 6.66 million, the ministry added.
This year’s influx has been driven by visitors from Russia, followed by European holidaymakers, notably from Germany and the United Kingdom.
The eight-month figure of Russian arrivals to Türkiye reached 4.3 million, according to the data, up 44.84% from last year.
Russians were followed by 4.1 million visitors from Germany and some 2.65 million from Britain.
Meanwhile, about 1.8 million Bulgarians traveled to Türkiye in the eight-month period.
The government sees foreign arrivals reaching 60 million this year, which it estimates will hit 90 million in 2028.
Revenues from the tourism sector, which is considered critical for the government in tackling the current account deficit, are expected to reach $56 billion by the year-end.
Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy earlier this month reiterated this goal, saying as a ministry they aim to increase this figure every year.
Arrivals surged 80.33% to 44.6 million in 2022, just shy of the peak of 45.1 million in 2019, as the lingering effects of the pandemic dissipated and Russian arrivals rocketed after Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Along with the heightened demand after the summer season caused disruptions in some of the holidaymakers’ plans, TUI, one of the world’s largest travel groups, announced this week it had extended the summer season for Türkiye and Greece to cover the interest.
"We have seen strong demand in the final weeks of the summer season, which traditionally runs to the end of October," said Sebastian Ebel, the TUI chief executive.
"As a consequence, we recently announced the extension of the season into November in particular to Türkiye and Greece, to cover demand outside the traditional summer season," Ebel noted.
Regarding the spark in arrivals in August, the famed resort city of Antalya on the Turkish Riviera secured the top spot, attracting 3.5 million foreign visitors.
Istanbul – Türkiye's largest city by population and a top tourist spot – ranked second, attracting 1.7 million foreign visitors.
The Aegean province of Muğla, and the northwestern province of Edirne, which borders both Bulgaria and Greece, followed with 628,654 and 525,270 foreign visitors, respectively.
At 871,270, Germans made up 13.1% of all foreign visitors in August, an increase of 1.52% year-over-year, according to the data.
They were followed by Russians at 852,640, Britons at 588,448, Iranians at 280,951 and Polish visitors at 279,040, the data highlighted.