By Yasemin Kalyoncuoglu
Türkiye hosted over 4.3 million tourists in the first two months of 2024, with the most foreign visitors arriving from neighboring Iran, Bulgaria, and Russia.
Türkiye received 56.6 million visitors from other countries last year, including 49.2 million foreign nationals and 7.4 million Turkish citizens living abroad, according to data from the Culture and Tourism Ministry compiled by Anadolu.
In 2024, Türkiye saw 2.4 million foreign visitors in January and 2.2 million in February, said border entry and exit statistics, while the same period last year saw a total of 3.8 million visitors entering the country.
This means the number of foreign visitors to Türkiye this January-February soared 12% from the same period last year, reaching 4.3 million.
The first two months of 2023 plus all of 2024 saw a total of 61.3 million tourists come to Türkiye.
- Most tourists come from Iran
The number of Iranian tourists was 437,900, followed by Russia with 433,600, and Bulgaria with 345,300.
Istanbul came first in the list of cities where visitors to Türkiye entered the country, followed by Edirne – bordering Greece – then the Turkish Riviera resort of Antalya, followed by Artvin and Agri.
- Tourism revenues up
There was a decline in tourism revenue in Türkiye due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the sector started recovering after 2021.
Tourism revenue in 2022 was at $46.4 billion and billion in 2023, making it a record year in tourism.
*Writing by Emir Yildirim