Antalya’s tourist arrivals soar in April with skyrocketing rise in Russian tourists

ANTALYA

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The number of tourists visiting the Mediterranean resort of Antalya saw a sharp rise in April with a 40 percent increase since the same month in 2016. 

The arrivals from Russia soared 15.5 times during the period, data from the Antalya Governor’s Office showed, Doğan News Agency reported on May 2. 

While a total of 348,072 people visited the city via the Antalya Airport and the Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport in April 2016, this figure rose to 526,349 in the same month of 2017, data showed. 

The number of arrivals in Antalya also reached 864,028 in the first four months of the year with a 12.5 percent year-on-year increase. 

In April, a total of 188,194 Russians visited Antalya by air after normalization in the two countries’ ties. This figure was 12,144 in the same period of 2016. 

Antalya also saw significant rises in the number of arrivals from Poland, Ukraine and Israel in April. 

The number of tourists visiting the city from Middle Eastern and Central Asian markets also surged in the first four months of the year. Arrivals from Qatar and Kyrgyzstan rose by 320 percent and 223 percent, respectively, compared to the same period of 2016. 

Around 7.5 to 8 million foreign tourists are expected to visit Antalya over this year, following a daunting year for Turkey. 

The number of foreigners visiting Turkey, mainly Istanbul and Antalya, declined to 25.3 million in 2016, a 30 percent drop compared to 2015, after a series of bomb attacks, a diplomatic crisis with Russia, and the failed July 15, 2016, coup attempt.