UPDATE - Turkey draws nearly 25M foreign visitors in 7 months

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey welcomed 24.69 million foreign visitors in the first seven months of this year, according to new Culture and Tourism Ministry data.

The number of foreigners visiting the country rose 14.1% in January-July from the previous year, according to the data released Thursday.

The historic metropolis of Istanbul remained Turkey’s top tourist draw, attracting 34.2% of all visitors -- around 8.4 million.

The Mediterranean resort city of Antalya followed with 31.8% or over 7.85 million foreign visitors in the same period.

Edirne, in northwestern Turkey, which borders both Bulgaria and Greece, received the third-highest number of foreigners, with 2.5 million during the first seven months.

Russians accounted for 15.2% or more than 3.75 million of the visitors, followed by Germans with some 10.8% (2.7 million visitors) and Bulgarians with 5.85% (1.44 million).

Most foreigners came to Turkey by air -- over 19 million -- while roadways were chosen by 4.9 million foreigners, seaways by over 660,000, and trains by 11,700.

The Hotel Association of Turkey said the hotel occupancy rate was 65.6% during the first seven months of 2019, up 1.2% versus the same period last year.

Occupancy in Istanbul was 82.8% and 64.1% in Antalya during the same period, according to TUROB data.

The average daily rate for rooms and revenue per room rose 9.1% and 10.4% to reach €75.1 ($84.8) and €49.2 ($55.6) in January-July.

- 6.6M foreigners in July

Meanwhile, the number of foreign visitors climbed 16.7% to reach 6.6 million people year-on-year in July.

Russians (1 million) and Germans (868,307) were the top nationalities of foreign visitors in the month, followed by the British (454,044).

In the month, Antalya, drawing 2.5 million people, was the top destination for foreigners, while Istanbul and Edirne welcomed 1.66 million and nearly 697,000 visitors.

The hotel occupancy rate was 76.1% in July, up 2.1% compared to the same month in 2018, while the average daily rate for rooms and revenue per room rose 14% and 16.4% to reach €100.3 ($112.4) and €76.3 ($85.45) in the month.

Last year, some 39.5 million foreigners entered Turkey, up from 32.4 million in 2017.