Tourist arrivals in first half reach 13 million

Bloomberg HT - The first half of 2011 proved a success for Türkiye’s tourism industry as the number of foreign visitors to the Mediterranean’s tourist hotspot reached over 13 million, an increase of 12 percent over the same period of the previous year, according to Türkiye’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism website.

When split into nationalities, Germans made up 14.7 percent of Türkiye’s guests in the January-June period, followed by Russians (11.4 percent), Britons (7.4 percent) and Iranians (7 percent).

Antalya remained the most popular port of entry to Türkiye during the first half of the year, as 32.3 percent of arrivals were handled by the coastal city’s air or maritime ports. Some 27 percent of tourists used Istanbul as a gateway to Türkiye, while the border city of Edirne processed 8.8 percent of foreign visitor entries.

Türkiye expects to host some 30 million foreign tourists in 2011.