TEHRAN – The number of Iranian travelers visiting Türkiye jumped 87 percent during January compared to the same month a year earlier.

According to recent statistics released by the Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Culture and Tourism, over two million foreign tourists visited Türkiye in January, marking a 2.1% increase compared to the previous year.

As was the case in previous months, Russians constituted the largest group of foreign holidaymakers. Last month, around 231,000 Russian nationals visited Türkiye, down from 279,000 in January 2023.

Iranians reportedly claimed the second spot with 211,000 visitors, pointing to a steep 87 percent increase from a year ago. The neighboring country has long been a popular destination for Iranian travelers.

The number of Bulgarians visiting Türkiye declined by 3 percent in January. Bulgarians mostly visit the northwestern Turkish province of Edirne, for shopping purposes.

Tourist arrivals from Germany increased by 2 percent year-on-year to around 143,000.

Istanbul was the favorite destination of foreign holidaymakers. The megacity attracted 1.2 million visitors last month, accounting for 57 percent of all tourist arrivals.

Antalya, another major tourist hotspot on the Mediterranean coast, hosted 178,000 foreign tourists, while Edirne’s share in total foreign tourist visits was 11.6 percent or 238,000 people.

Last year, Türkiye welcomed 49.2 million foreign holidaymakers, up 10.4 percent from 2022. Including Turkish citizens residing abroad, nearly 57 million people visited the country in 2023.

The country’s tourism revenues amounted to $54.3 billion last year, rising nearly 17 percent from 2022. Türkiye aims to attract 60 million visitors and generate $60 billion in tourism revenues in 2024.

The number of Iranian nationals visiting Türkiye reached 2.9 million from January to November 2023, which marked a five percent increase compared with the same period in 2022.

From January to November last year, Türkiye witnessed a notable surge in foreign tourist arrivals, marking a substantial 10.8 percent increase compared to a year earlier, totaling 46.7 million visitors. When considering Turkish nationals residing abroad, the overall count of visitors escalated to 52.7 million for the initial 11 months of the year.

AM