Turkey sees 25 percent rise in foreign visitors in first seven months of year: Tourism ministry

ANKARA/ISTANBUL

The number of foreigners visiting Turkey in the first seven months of 2018 increased by nearly 25 percent, compared to the same period last year, data from the Culture and Tourism Ministry showed on Aug. 29.

More than 21.6 million foreign visitors arrived in Turkey from January to July, compared to 17.3 million in the first seven months of 2017, according to the ministry data.

Russians accounted for over 15 percent or 3.3 million visitors of total visitors in the first seven months of the year, followed by Germans with around 11 percent, or 2.3 million, and Iranians with 6 percent, or 1.3 million visitors.

Iran was followed by Georgia and the United Kingdom.

Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city by population and one of its top tourist draws, and the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya recorded the greatest number of foreign arrivals, 7.5 million and 6.7 million respectively.

The month of July saw arrival of 5.7 million foreigners by an 11.7 percent year-on-year rise.

The number of foreign arrivals into Turkey regressed to 25.4 million in 2016 due to an escalation in security concerns and a diplomatic crisis with Russia. Last year, Turkey’s tourism sector witnessed a strong rebound as bilateral ties with Russia normalized and security worries eased, with 32.4 million foreigners visiting Turkey.

A report from the Hotels Association of Turkey (TÜROB) showed that hotels enjoyed significant increases in occupancy rates in the first seven months of the year, driven by the rise in foreign arrivals.

Hotel occupancy rates across Turkey rose 15.7 percent year-on-year to 64.8 percent and average daily revenue (ADR) rose to 69 euros by a 25.2 percent yearly increase in the mentioned period, according to STR Global data, which was announced by TÜROB on Aug. 29.

Thus, Turkey reached the highest increase in terms of both hotel occupancy rates and ADR among all European destinations in the January-July period, TÜROB said.

Hotel occupancy rates saw a 7.1 percent yearly increase and hit 74.9 percent in July, with ADR increasing to 87.8 euros by a nearly 12 percent yearly increase, STR Global data also showed.