Turkey is experiencing a renaissance of its kind in terms of tourism. In January 1.5 million tourists from abroad visited the country. This represents an increase of 39% for Turkish tourism compared to last year.
There was a significant increase of arrivals from Russia. In the first month of 2018, 68 thousand Russians visited Turkey. This is an increase of 70.3% compared to 40.1 thousand last year. Russia took the fifth place in terms of the number of foreign arrivals in the country. Most tourists came from Iran (154 thousand), Georgia (151 thousand), Bulgaria (119 thousand) and Germany (87 thousand).
According to the Turkish tourism authorities, the most popular city destination was Istanbul. The capital accounted for almost 57% of all arrivals. Other popular destinations were the provinces of Edirne (12%) and Artvin (11%).
In 2017, Turkey regained the title of the most popular foreign destination for Russians. According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the country, it was visited by 4.7 million Russians. This is a 444% increase compared to 2016 and it is expected to improve further on.
Turkish authorities expect the arrival of 5 million Russian tourists this year and overall 36 million foreign guests, 3.6 million more than in 2017. According to information from tour operators abroad, on the other hand, it is assumed that the number of tourists in 2018 will exceed the expectations due to early bookings.