Foreign tourist arrivals to Turkey rise 18 pct in April after months in doldrums

ANKARA

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The number of foreign tourists visiting Turkey saw a huge increase in April, with the number of arrivals from Russia jumping around 485 percent, after months of difficulties amid a series of negative incidents, from bomb attacks to a diplomatic crisis with Russia and a failed coup attempt.

A total of 2.07 million foreign tourists visited Turkey in April, representing an 18.1 percent year-on-year increase, data from the Tourism Ministry showed on May 30. 

In the first four months of the year, more than 5.8 million foreigners visited the country, good for a year-on-year increase of around 1 percent, according to ministry data. 

The number of foreign arrivals to Turkey regressed to 3.8 million in the first three months of the year, a 6.4 percent decrease compared to the same period in 2016. 

In April, foreign arrivals soared, especially from some key markets, with Russian tourist arrivals increasing to 181,865 – a 485.7 percent year-on-year increase. 

The number of arrivals from Iraq also hit 51,254 in April, a 302.3 percent of increase compared to the same period of 2016. 

In April, Germany and Russia were the top tourism markets for Turkey after a long period. 

A total of 262,730 Germans visited Turkey in April, making Germany the country’s largest market with around 13 percent of the total. 

Russia was the second largest source for Turkey with an 8.78 percent share of the total. 

Georgia was the third largest market for Turkey’s tourism sector, with 180,478 people from the country visiting Turkey in April, according to the ministry. 

Bulgaria and Iran rounded out the five, providing 147,231 and 119,998 respective arrivals in April. 

In the first four months of the year, Turkey’s top five markets were Georgia, Iran, Germany, Bulgaria and Russia, the ministry data showed. 

A steep decrease in the number of arrivals from Europe also decelerated in April, as a total of 944,900 Europeans visited the country, representing an approximate decrease of 2.4 percent compared to the same month of 2016.