TEHRAN – Turkey welcomed 1.9 million Iranian nationals during the first nine months of the year.

The neighboring country has long been a popular destination for Iranian travelers. According to available data, the Islamic Republic became Turkey’s fourth tourism source, with 280,951 visits.

In general, foreign tourist arrivals in Turkey reached 39.2 million, which shows a 12.7 percent increase year on year.

Data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute on Oct. 31, suggests that the transcontinental country fetched $20.2 billion of tourism revenues in the third quarter, which jumped 13 percent compared to that of a year earlier.

Turkey has set a goal to host 60 million tourists and generate $56 billion in tourism revenues during the current year.

Russians constituted the largest group of foreign holidaymakers. 5.2 million Russian nationals visited Turkey during the nine-month period, which showed a robust 34 percent increase from a year earlier.

Travelers from Germany ranked second at 4.86 million, followed by Britons at 3.2 million and Bulgarian citizens at 2.15 million in January-September.

Arrivals from Ukraine increased by 28 percent to around 663,000 despite the ongoing war with Russia, the data revealed.

Istanbul was foreigners’ favorite destination, attracting 13.2 million tourists, while Antalya, on the Mediterranean coast, welcomed 12 million foreign holidaymakers in the first nine months of the year. Moreover, the northwestern province of Edirne was visited by some 3.7 million foreigners.

AFM