Antalya sees worst tourism season ever

The number of tourists visiting the resort dropped by almost half in the first seven months of the year, according to data from the Antalya Airport.

The resort saw the biggest loss in European and Russian tourists, hosting 1.8 million fewer tourists from these destinations compared to the first seven months of 2015. 

While around 5.3 million tourists visited Antalya in the first seven months of 2015, this figure plunged to around 2.8 million this July. The resort saw the steepest decline in the number of Russian and German tourists with a decline of over 97 percent and 29 percent, respectively, in the January-July period compared to the same period of 2015. Antalya lost 1.8 million Russian and German tourists over this year from the last year, the data showed. 

While more than 1.7 million tourists visited Antalya last July, this figure declined to around 857,000 in the same month of this year with a decline of more than 98 percent in the number of Russian tourists visiting the resort. 

While more than 573,000 Russian tourists visited Antalya in July 2015, this figured plunged to 10,090 this July. The number of German tourists visiting the resort also declined to 263,695 in July 2016, a 27.5 percent drop compared to the same month of 2015, the data showed. 

The resort lost more than 664,000 tourists from these two markets in July compared to the same month of 2015. 

However, the number of foreign tourists from Ukraine visiting Antalya saw a significant increase. 

The number of Ukrainian tourists visiting the resort increased to 124,252 in July, a rise of more than 100 percent from the same month of 2015.