Tourist inflow to Turkey flat in first nine months

ANTALYA - Doğan News Agency

Tourists take pictures in the western city of İzmir in this file photo. The number of tourists was up 0.51 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of the year. DHA photo

The number of tourists coming to Turkey in the first nine months of the year increased only 0.51 percent from last year, to reach 25 million, according to figures from the Mediterranean Tourist Hoteliers Union (AKTOB).

While Turkey was able to maintain last year’s tourist inflow despite tensions in the Middle East, the tourism industry in Egypt, a prominent tourist destination in the region, started to pick up, hosting 8.8 million tourists in the same period. The country expects to host more than 12 million tourists by the end of the year and reach pre-Arab spring levels in 2013 with 15 million tourists.

Tourists from Iran, Syria plunge 35 percent

The number of German, Russian tourists coming to Turkey increased 5.7 percent and 3 percent respectively in the first nine months, while the number of British tourists diminished by 6 percent. The number of tourists from Austria, France and Italy also dropped. The number of tourists from particularly Iran and Syria recorded a striking drop with 35 percent.