Tuba Onğun
31 January 2024•Update: 31 January 2024
ANKARA
Türkiye welcomed 49.2 million foreign tourists in 2023, hiking 10.4% from the previous year, according to the Culture and Tourism Ministry on Wednesday.
The figure exceeded its pre-pandemic period level of 45 million in 2019, the ministry data showed.
Istanbul, Türkiye's largest city by population, was the top tourist draw, attracting 17.4 million foreign visitors last year.
The famed resort city of Antalya on the Turkish Riviera ranked second with 14.8 million foreign visitors in 2023.
The northwestern province of Edirne, which borders both Bulgaria and Greece and the Aegean province of Mugla followed them with 4.7 million and 3.3 million, respectively.
Russians made up 12.8% of all foreign visitors or at 6.3 million, rising 20.7% from the previous year.
It was followed by Germans at 6.2 million (up 9% annually), Britons at 3.8 million (up 12.8%), Bulgarians at 2.9 million (up 0.4%), and Iranians at 2.5 million (up 7.4%).
Separate data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) showed that Türkiye's tourism income surged 16.9% year-on-year to total at $54.3 billion in 2023.
Monthly data
In December 2023, foreign arrivals in Türkiye rose 3.5% at an annualized pace to 2.5 million.
Bulgarians made up the largest chunk of foreign visitors in December with 251,895 arrivals.
They were followed by Germans with 233,416 visitors, Russians with 229,979, and Iranians with 213,156 last month.
Istanbul saw 53% of all foreign visitors, or 1.3 million in December. Edirne was placed second with 14.3% or 356,255 tourists. Antalya followed with a 10.5% share or 259,568 visitors.
