Over 1 million Russian tourists visit Turkey in January - April 2024

MOSCOW. May 24 (Interfax) - More than one million Russians arrived in Turkey in the first four months of 2024, a 5% increase from January - April 2023, according to data published by Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Total foreign tourist arrivals grew by almost 12% year-on-year to 10.6 million in this period. German tourists were leading by the number of arrivals, which increased by 16% from the previous year to 1.1 million in January - April 2024.

Russian tourists take second place, with almost 1.08 million arrivals in January - April of this year. In April, Russian tourist arrivals in Turkey were up 4% year-on-year to approximately 396,000.

Iranian tourists are ranked the third, with their number also approaching one million at 950,000, which by 52% more than in the first four months of 2023. Bulgarian and British tourists also made it to the Top Five in Turkey in January- April 2024.

In the first four months of this year, Istanbul hosted a majority of foreign tourists, totally 5.2 million, almost 50% of all foreign tourist arrivals. Antalya is ranked second with 1.84 million arrivals.

In full 2023, 6.3 million Russians visited Turkey. Experts expect Russian tourist arrivals to grow this year, as Turkish vacations are now selling significantly better than one year ago. Some companies have posted a twofold increase in their sales.