Istanbul welcomes more than 6 mln foreign tourists
ISTANBUL
The number of foreign tourists visiting Istanbul increased by 19 percent from a year ago in the first five months of 2023 to around 6.3 million.
In May alone, 1.5 million foreign tourists arrived in the city, according to the data from the provincial directorate of culture and tourism. This marked a 7 percent increase in tourist arrivals compared with the same month of last year.
Most of the foreign tourists - 1.47 million people - arrived in the city by air in May, while a little more than 38,000 traveled to Istanbul by sea. From January to May, 50 cruise ships with 71,000 passengers visited the city.
Russians constituted the largest group of international holidaymakers, and Germans followed in the ranking. Official data showed that nearly 176,000 Russians – accounting for 13.6 percent of total foreign tourist arrivals - and 117,000 German nationals vacationed in Istanbul last month.
The city, with a population of more than 15 million, also welcomed some 84,000 American, 81,000 Iranian, 68,000 British, 54,000 French and 38,000 Israeli tourists.
More than 1 million foreign tourists entered the city via Istanbul Airport, while the corresponding figure for Sabiha Gökçen Airport was 408,366.
Meanwhile, Istanbul Airport served a record number of daily passengers on June 26. The mega airport hosted 1,593 flights and 252,365 passengers on that day. Tens of thousands of people are traveling across Türkiye during the nine-day-long Eid al-Adha holiday.
Earlier this month, the airport hosted 1,684 flights as thousands of fans, mostly British and Italian, traveled to the city to watch the UEFA Champions League Final between Manchester City and Inter Milan. This marked an all-time-high air traffic figure in Europe.
