TEHRAN—A total of 280,951 Iranian nationals visited Turkey in October, making the Islamic Republic the fourth tourism source for its neighboring country during the month.

International arrivals in August alone rose by 5.65% when compared to the same month the previous year to more than 6.66 million, data compiled by Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry said Friday.

At 871,270, Germans made up 13.1% of all foreign visitors in August, an increase of 1.52% year-over-year, according to the data. They were followed by Russians at 852,640, Britons at 588,448, Iranians at 280,951, and Polish visitors at 279,040, the data highlighted.

The popular resort city of Antalya on the Turkish Riviera was the top draw for foreign visitors at 37%, attracting 3.5 million foreign visitors last month.

Attracting 1.7 million foreign visitors in August, Istanbul, which is Turkey’s largest city by population and a top tourist spot, ranked second.

The Aegean province of Mugla, and the northwestern province of Edirne, which borders both Bulgaria and Greece, followed them with 628,654 and 525,270 foreign visitors, respectively.

Overall, this year’s influx has been driven by visitors from Russia, followed by European holidaymakers, notably from Germany and the United Kingdom.

In January-August, foreign arrivals in the country surged 13.95% year-on-year to 33.4 million. Russia made up the largest chunk of foreign visitors in the first eight months of the year with 4.3 million arrivals, up 49.8% from last year.

The tourist arrivals ranking is followed by Germans with 4.1 million visitors, Britons with 2.7 million, and Bulgarians with 1.8 million in the eight months. Istanbul saw 44.7% of all foreign visitors, or 6.3 million in the five months. Antalya took second place with 22.40% or 3.1 million tourists. Edirne followed with a 10.5% share or 1.5 million visitors.

AFM