Antalya hosts 1.5 million tourists in 2020

ANTALYA

Turkey’s popular holiday destination Antalya, on the Mediterranean coast, welcomed more than 1.5 million foreign tourists in the first eight months of the year, according to the information provided by the provincial Governor Ersin Yazıcı to state-run Anadolu Agency.

Underlining that the tourism sector started to revive after the Eid al-Adha holiday as coronavirus lockdowns around the world were easing, Yazıcı said that most tourists came to the city in August. The number of tourists that came to Antalya in August alone reached 800,000, according to the governor.

Stating that the majority of the tourists coming to the city are Russian nationals, Yazıcı said that Russia was an important main market for Antalya and the country.

“Some 483,000 tourists came from Russia in eight months, 336,000 of which came only in August,” he added.

Recent reports indicate the number of Russian tourists arriving in Turkey could hit a million this year now that the flights have resumed.

Russia is followed by Ukraine, Germany and the U.K. in the ranking of countries that send the most visitors to Antalya.

Yazıcı also pointed out that the hotels in Antalya increased their measures within the scope of the “safe tourism” strategy and that they did not accept customers on reaching 65 percent of occupancy capacity.

Turkey recently introduced the Safe Tourism Certification Program, launched by the Foreign Ministry, Culture and Tourism Ministry and Transport Ministry.

The scheme covers a broad range of safety measures concerning transportation, accommodations and the health and safety of tourists and hospitality employees.