Russian tourists flooding into Turkey

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

DHA Photo

Turkey remains one of most favored tourism destinations for Russian tourists, amid the growing flight network between the two countries and a concerted promotional campaign in Russia by the Turkish Tourism Ministry.

The number of Russian tourists who visited Turkey in the first nine months of this year increased to 4.1 million from 3.8 million in the same period last year, according to data from the Tourism Ministry. Russian tourists’ favorite location remained the Mediterranean province of Antalya, with 3 million Russians visiting Antalya in the first nine months of 2014.

A recent airport by trade body ACI Europe has shown that passenger traffic at non-EU airports such as Russia, Norway and Turkey posted a year-on year rise of 8.2 percent in August 2014 compared to August 2013, while EU airports posted a year-on-year increase of 6.6 percent.

Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport, which is in Group 1 of the ACI Europe with more than 25 million passengers per year, increased its number of passengers by 11 percent in August from the same month of 2013, while Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen, which is in Group 2 with annual passengers between 10 and 25 million passengers per year, increased its passenger volume by 25.6 percent.