Tourist arrivals in Antalya top 2.1 million

ANKARA

Foreign tourist arrivals in Antalya already surpassed 2 million since the start of the year, boosting hopes that the province may welcome a record number of international holidaymakers in 2023.

Some 2.11 million foreign tourists arrived in the popular holiday destination on the Mediterranean coast by air between Jan. 1 and May 7, according to data from the provincial directorate of culture and tourism.

This marked an all-time-high number of foreign tourist arrivals for this period, after record visits in January, February, March and April.

Foreign tourist arrivals from January through May 7 by air increased by a strong 45 percent from a year ago, and they were 10 percent higher compared with the same period of 2019.

In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit global tourism and travel industries, Antalya hosted a record more than 15 million foreign tourists. The year 2019 was the best year ever for the Turkish tourism industry.

Türkiye hosted over 45 million foreign holidaymakers that year. Including Turks residing abroad, the number of visitors stood at nearly 52 million people.

In the Jan. 1- May 7, 2019 period, 1.91 million foreign tourists arrived in Antalya by air, while this figure was 1.46 million in the same period of 2022.

Encouraged by the latest tourism data, Turkish hoteliers are optimistic that the 2023 tourism season will be much better than it was in 2019.

In the first quarter of 2023, 6.2 million foreigners vacationed in Türkiye, a 27 percent increase from a year ago. In April alone, foreign tourist arrivals increased 12 percent to 2.34 million.

Türkiye aims to attack 60 million foreign tourists and generate $56 billion in tourism revenues in 2023.