TEHRAN – A total of 1.159 million Iranian nationals visited Turkey during the first half of 2018.

Some 2.374 million Russians and 1.547 Germans arrived in Turkey in the six-month period, according to figures released by Directorate General of Migration Management of Turkey’s Interior Ministry, IRNA reported.

Iran was top on a list of tourist arrivals in Turkey before the summer starts. However, rising forex rates and escalating departure taxes diminished the number of outbound passengers, bringing Iran down to the third position in the list after Russia and Germany, the report added. 

Over 850,000 Iranian travelers toured Turkey from January to May while the figure stood at 2.5 million in 2017, showing a considerable rise of 50.2 percent from 1.66 million in 2016, according to data compiled by Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Turkey hosted some 32.6 million tourists in 2017, fetching $26.2 billion of tourism revenues for the country.

PHOTO: People pose for a selfie with the Ottoman-era Ortakoy Mecidiye mosque in the background in Istanbul, Turkey, August 28, 2017.(REUTERS/Murad Sezer)

AFM/MQ/MG