Foreign tourist arrivals in Türkiye leaped 308 pct in May

ANKARA

Foreign tourist arrivals in Türkiye increased by 308.5 percent in May from a year ago, the Culture and Tourism Ministry said on June 20.

Last month, 3.8 million foreigners visited Türkiye. Foreign tourist visits rose by 226 percent and 130 percent on an annual basis in April and March, respectively.

The country also saw three-digit increases in foreign tourist arrivals in the first two months of this year.

From January to May, Türkiye welcomed 11.3 million foreign holidaymakers, up more than 207 percent in the same period of 2021.

Data from the ministry showed that Germans constituted the largest group of foreign tourists visiting Türkiye in May, accounting for nearly 13 percent of all arrivals.

Last month, some 495,000 German nationals vacationed in the country, up from 95,000 people in May 2021. In the same month of 2020, only 396 German tourists came to Türkiye when COVID-19-related restrictions curbed international travel.

In the first five months of 2022, more than 1.3 million German tourists arrived in the country, marking a 367 percent increase from a year ago.

Meanwhile, the number of tourists from the U.K. soared from only 8,300 people in May last year to 395,000 last month, making up more than 10.3 of all arrivals. In January-May, around 802,000 Britons visited Türkiye, pointing to a staggering 1,970 percent increase compared with the same period of 2021.

Russian tourist arrivals rise

Despite the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, tourist arrivals from Russia increased by nearly 1,800 percent in May on an annual basis. Some 363,000 Russians visited the country last month, against only 19,300 people in the same month of 2021. The number of Russian tourists visiting Türkiye also rose more than 49 percent year-on-year in January-May to stand at 854,000 people.

However, the war apparently affected tourist inflows from Ukraine, the ministry data suggested.

In May, 54,000 Ukrainians vacationed in the country, down 77 percent from 236,000 in the same month of 2021. From January-May this year, Türkiye welcomed 243,000 Ukrainian tourists against more than 423,000 people from this country a year earlier.

The ministry data also showed that nearly 950,000 Bulgarians entered Türkiye in the first five months of 2022, ranking third in the list of top five visitors, while Iranian tourists at 838,000 accounted for 7.4 percent of all international arrivals.

Türkiye aims to host at least 42 million tourists and generate $35 billion in tourism revenues this year.