Türkiye draws 10.6 million foreign tourists in January-April

ISTANBUL

Some 10.59 million foreign tourists visited Türkiye in January-April, according to data from the Tourism and Culture Ministry on May 23.

Including Turks residing abroad, total visitors reached 12.74 million in the first four months of 2025.

In April alone, foreign tourist arrivals surged 8 percent year-on-year to 3.9 million. This marked a reversal compared to the previous two months. In February, the number of tourists fell 5.3 percent from a year ago, while the annual decline was 13.1 percent in March.

In the first four months of last year, Türkiye welcomed 10.65 million foreign visitors.

Istanbul, Türkiye's largest city by population and a top tourist destination, welcomed 50.4 percent of all foreign visitors, or nearly 5.34 million, in the four-month period in 2025.

It was followed by the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, 17.2 percent or 1.82 million visitors, and Edirne in northwestern Türkiye, which borders both Bulgaria and Greece. The northwestern province hosted more than 1 million visitors or 10.5 percent of all foreign tourist arrivals in January-April.

As for the nationalities of foreign tourists, Germany took the first place with a 10.8 percent share, over the same period, followed by Russia and Iran.

From January to April, a total of 1.14 million Germans visited Türkiye, slightly higher than 1.12 million German citizens traveling to the country in the same period of last year.

The number of Russians vacationing in Türkiye, however, declined from 1.08 million in the first four months of 2024 to 977,000 in January-April this year.

Türkiye welcomed 947,000 Iranians so far this year, almost unchanged from the first four months of 2024, showed the data from the ministry.

Arrivals from the U.K. increased from 659,000 to 678,000, while the number of Bulgarian citizens visiting Türkiye fell almost 13 percent year-on-year to 749,000.

Türkiye aims for a total of 65 million visitors and $64 billion in tourism revenues in 2025.

According to the government’s medium-term program, tourism revenue is targeted to increase to $69 billion next year and $74 billion in 2027.