Turkey expects tourist flow from Russia to reach 6.7 mln in 2024

MOSCOW. Nov 11 (Interfax) - Turkey expects to be visited by around 6.7 million Russian tourists by the end of 2024 and to see an even larger tourist flow from Russia next year than before the Covid-19 pandemic, Turkish Ambassador in Moscow Tanju Bilgic told journalists on Monday.

"Approximately 6.3 million tourists from Russia visited Turkey in 2023. We are now recording an increase in the tourist flow by nearly 5.7%, and we expect to be visited by around 6.7 million Russian tourists this year," Bilgic said.

Next year, Turkey plans to enlarge the tourist flow from Russia by 6% to 7.3 million in 2025, he said.

"Russians are well familiar with Turkey. They travel to Antalya, Mugla, Istanbul and Bodrum. We want to attract a larger number of tourists from the Russian Federation due to affordable prices for accommodation and also offer them vacation options in other regions of the country," he said.

Developing cultural tourism will be Turkey's priority in 2025, Bilgic said.

Russia led foreign tourist numbers in Turkey in 2023. As many as 6.3 million Russians travelled to Turkey last year. The tourist flow from Russia to Turkey in 2019 topped 7 million for the first time in the history of bilateral tourism relations.