By Thompson ABISOLA
Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry said on Friday that no fewer than 35.6 million foreigners visited Turkey in the first 10 months in 2018.
In the January-October period, the number of foreign tourists increased by 22.4 per cent compared to some 29 million in the same period in 2017.
According to official data, Antalya, the Mediterranean resort city, was on the top of popular destination list with 12 million foreign visitors during the period, followed by Istanbul, the biggest city in Turkey, with 11.3 million foreign visitors.
Turkey’s total tourism income increased by one per cent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2018, reaching $11.5 billion, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said.
Earlier this month, Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, told Anadolu Agency that the increase in the number of tourists showed that the tourism sector had experienced a rapid recovery.
“It looks like we will pass the 40 million foreign tourists mark and break Turkey’s record by the end of this year,’’ he said.
“I am expecting a 23 per cent increase in 2019.
“I hope we will reach the target of 48 million foreign tourists,’’ Ersoy added.
