Antalya draws record number of foreign tourists

ANTALYA

The number of foreign tourists visiting the Turkish Mediterranean resort of Antalya surged by 45 percent in March from a year ago to reach a record 505,000.

In the first three months of 2024, the popular holiday destination welcomed more than 1 million visitors, also marking a first-quarter all-time high.

Foreign tourist arrivals in the city increased by 25.6 percent compared with the January-March period of last year.

Germans topped the list of international vacationers, followed by Russians and Britons in the first three months of 2024.

According to the latest official data, the number of German tourists visiting the city rose by a record 65 percent year-on-year to nearly 280,000 people. Germans accounted for some 33 percent of all foreign tourist arrivals in Türkiye in the first quarter.

There was a 19.4 percent decline in vacationers from Russia, which has been at war with Ukraine, affecting tourist inflows from the country.

From January to March, around 172,000 Russians visited Antalya, corresponding to 20 percent of all foreign tourists, showed the data.

For years, Russians were at the top of the foreign visitors list until now.

Meanwhile, a delegation from Türkiye, headed by Firuz Bağlıkaya, the president of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies, visited Moscow to offer condolences over the deadly terrorist attack that took place on March 22.

They visited the Crocus City Hall and laid flowers in memory of the victims of the attack.

Russia is of the largest markets for the Turkish tourism industry. Last year, 6.3 million Russians visited Türkiye, which marked a 21 percent increase from 2022.

Antalya has long been a favorite holiday destination for Russians, and after the war broke out, many Russians and Ukrainians relocated to the southern city.

The latest data also showed that the popular resort welcomed some 125,000 tourists from the U.K. in the first three months of 2024, up 40 percent year-on-year.

Strong inflow of holidaymakers from Poland continued. Tourist arrivals from the country leaped 43 percent in the January-March period from a year ago to around 35,000. In 2023, for the first time, over 1 million Polish tourists visited Antalya.

Despite the ongoing war, the number of Ukrainians rose 48 percent to 17,000, while tourist arrivals from Iran soared 73 percent to some 31,000.

More than 13,000 Dutch tourists visited Antalya in the first quarter of 2024, pointing to a 38 percent increase from a year ago.

Türkiye aims to welcome a total of 60 million tourists and generate $60 billion in tourism revenues in 2024.