Foreign tourist arrivals rise 6 percent in January

ANKARA

Türkiye welcomed 2.2 million foreign tourists in the first month of 2024, marking a 6.06 percent increase from a year, according to data from the Tourism Ministry on Feb. 21.

Iranians constituted the largest group of foreign visitors at 240,643, up 14 percent from January last year.

Some 204,000 Russians visited Türkiye last month, marking a 12 percent decline compared to the same month of 2024.

German tourists rose by 5 percent annually to more than 150,000, while visitors from Bulgaria increased by 2 percent to 166,000, showed data from the ministry.

Last year, Türkiye welcomed 52.6 million foreign tourists, a 7 percent increase from 2023.

Including Turks residing abroad, the number of visitors reached 62.3 million.

As a record number of tourists visited the country, Türkiye’s tourism revenues hit an all-time high of $61.1 billion, increasing 8.3 percent compared to 2023.

Türkiye aims for 65 million tourists and $64 billion in tourism revenues this year.

Representatives of the tourism industry are hopeful that if the conflict between Russia and Ukraine comes to an end, tourist visits from both countries may increase this year.

The real impact of peace on the Turkish tourism industry, however, will be seen in the 2026-27 season, they said.

Last year, 6.7 million Russians visited Türkiye, up from 6.3 million in 2023. The country also welcomed more than 940,000 Ukrainians in 2024, up 12 percent from the previous year.