Istanbul’s Galataport welcomes Russian cruise ship

ISTANBUL – Demirören News Agency

The Astoria Grande cruise ship, which started its first tour from the Russian city of Sochi in the Black Sea, has arrived in Istanbul.

The cruise ship, which has the capacity to accommodate up to 1,400 passengers, will stay at Galataport, a cruise ship port and mixed-use property unit with 1,200 meters of city-center shoreline, for a couple of days.

During its two-week long tour, the cruise ship which is now 50 percent full, will then be headed for the popular resort town of Bozcaada.

From January to May, 856,000 Russians visited Türkiye, comprising 7.5 percent of all foreign tourist arrivals, according to the latest data from the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

In the same period of last year and in 2020, the country welcomed 570,000 and 318,000 holidaymakers respectively from Russia.

In the first five months of this year, Russians were the third largest group of foreign visitors, after Germans and Bulgarians.