Antalya’s tourism is closing the year with a modest rise, driven largely by a strong rebound in the Ukrainian market, with the southwestern coastal city welcoming 421,000 Ukrainian tourists in the first 11 months of 2025 — a 23 percent increase, according to sector representatives.
“Before the war [with Russia], Ukrainian arrivals exceeded 1 million annually. The rapid recovery we’re seeing this year has been an important source of morale for Antalya,” said Antalya City Council Tourism Working Group Chairman Recep Yavuz.
Despite the ongoing regional conflicts and rising costs that challenged global tourism, Antalya surpassed last year’s figures, reaching 16.79 million visitors in 11 months, a 1.1 percent increase. Yavuz expects the city to close the year with over 17 million tourists, marking the highest annual total on record.
Germany, Russia and more than one million Turkish expatriates played the biggest role in reaching the milestone.
Autumn tourism also continued its upward trend. The October-November period — now branded the “golden autumn” — brought 2.7 million visitors, a 6 percent rise that Yavuz said is crucial for extending the tourism season.
“With mild weather and growing cultural events, Antalya has strong potential to strengthen off-season tourism,” he noted.
Among major markets, Russia approached 4 million arrivals and Germany nearly 3.5 million, both at their highest levels since the pandemic. The United Kingdom remained third with more than 1.5 million visitors, while Poland climbed to fourth place with 1.27 million. Expatriates, surpassing one million arrivals for the first time, ranked fifth.
However, the sharpest declines came from Iran, down 51 percent, and Kazakhstan, down 15 percent, both affected by regional instability.
Expatriate tourism continued to stand out as one of Antalya’s most resilient sources. More than 1.03 million Turkish citizens living abroad vacationed in the city in the first 11 months. Over the past five years, Antalya has welcomed 3.8 million expatriates.
