Foreign tourist arrivals in Antalya already reach all-time high

ANTALYA

In the first 11 months of 2024, foreign tourist arrivals in the Mediterranean province of Antalya hit 16.6 million, which marked an all-time high figure for the popular holiday destination.

The number of foreign tourists visiting the city rose by 8 percent in January-November from a year ago, according to Kaan Kaşif Kavaloğlu, president of the Mediterranean Touristic Hoteliers’ and Investors’ Association (AKTOB).

Antalya, which welcomed a record number of 15.7 million foreign holidaymakers in 2023, is now on track to break this record and receive more than 17 million tourists in 2024.

Russia, Germany, the U.K. and Poland are the main source markets for Antalya’s tourism industry, according to Kavaloğlu.

Some 3.85 million Russians and 3.4 million Germans vacationed in Antalya in the January-November period, while visitors from the U.K. reached 1.5 million. The tourism hotspot also received 1.25 million holidaymakers from Poland.

“Antalya is the top holiday destination for Russians. However, this is not case with Germans and Britons. For instance, 1.5 million Britons visit Antalya but 16.8 million Britons travel to Spain,” Kavaloğlu said.

“We have a long way to go in the German, the U.K. and Scandinavian markets…We aim to attract more tourists from those countries,” he added.

Kavaloğlu noted that tourist arrivals from Ukraine spiked after 2019 but now declined to around 200,000. He estimated that some 500,000 Ukrainians will have visited Antalya this year, noting that Ukrainians living in Europe are still coming to the city.

Tensions in the Middle East are impacting tourist inflows into the city, according to Kavaloğlu.

“The number of visitors from the Middle Eastern countries has dropped significantly,” he said.

Foreign tourist arrivals slowed in June and July due to the large sports events, such as the Euro 2024 and the Paris Olympics, but tourist inflows picked up afterwards, said Hakan Saatçioğlu, president of the Turkish Professional Hotel Managers Association (POYD).

Meanwhile, the latest official data showed that Türkiye has been attracting more visitors from its rival countries in the tourism industry in the Mediterranean region, such as Spain, Italy and Greece.

In the first 10 months of 2024, around 330,000 Spanish, 613,000 Italian and 590,000 Greek tourists visited Türkiye.

In the same period of 2019, Türkiye received 221,000 Spanish, 359,000 Italian and 468,000 Greek holidaymakers.

Total foreign tourist arrivals surge 7 percent year-on-year in January-October to 47.3 million, according to data from the Culture and Tourism Industry.