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Foreign tourist arrivals in Turkey surge 16% to 27m

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Arrivals from Russia in the seven months reached 3.5 million, followed by 3.21 million tourists from Germany and 2.6 million from the UK

Foreign arrivals in Turkey surged 16.22 percent year on year in the first seven months of 2023, the culture and tourism ministry data showed.

The country received 26.76 million foreign tourists between January and July, compared to 23.03 million a year ago.

In July, 7.14 million visitors arrived in Turkey, up of 7.25 percent year on year.

Istanbul, the largest city by population, received 36.5 percent of all foreign visitors, or nearly 9.77 million, the data showed.

Antalya, the Mediterranean resort city, followed with 7.7 million foreign tourists and Edirne, in the north west region, which borders Bulgaria and Greece, received 2.7 million tourists.

Europe, mainly Germany and the United Kingdom, were the main source markets. The number of Russians increased year on year, mainly due to restrictions imposed by Western nations over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Arrivals from Russia in the seven months reached 3.5 million, followed by 3.21 million tourists from Germany and 2.6 million from the UK.

Tourism revenues rose 27 percent annually to $21.7 billion in the first six months of 2023, culture and tourism minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said last month.