Foreign visitors to Turkey increase in 2018, boosting national income

Tourism is one of the country's main industries, and the number of foreign visitors last year increased by more than 20 percent to an estimated 39,488,401, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Crossing from Europe to Asia on a passenger ferry with Leander's Tower in the distance in Istanbul's Bosphorus.
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Crossing from Europe to Asia on a passenger ferry with Leander's Tower in the distance in Istanbul's Bosphorus.

Turkey’s tourism industry had a robust year in 2018, according to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. 

The income from foreign visitors was around $24.03 billion, compared to $20.22 billion in 2017. 

In 2016, tourism income from foreign visitors was just $15.99 billion, compared to a high of $25.44 billion in 2015. 

Figures showed that Turkey’s income from foreign visitors decreased from 2015 to 2016, but it began to grow again in 2017.

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Turkey's income from foreign visitors has been steadily increasing after experiencing a dip in 2016.

Data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Turkish Statistical Institute suggests that there was a steady increase in the number of foreign visitors between 2016 and 2018. 

In 2016, there were 25.35 million foreign visitors to Turkey. This number increased by 27.84 percent in 2017 to 32.41 million foreign visitors. 

Between 2017 and 2018, the number of foreign visitors increased by 21.84 percent, with the total number of foreigners visiting Turkey last year reaching 39.49 million.

Between January and December 2018, foreign visitors’ most popular ports of entry were as follows:

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Istanbul was the top entry port to Turkey in 2018.

Turkey was most popular in 2018 with visitors from the Russian Federation, Germany, Bulgaria, Britain, and Georgia, in that order. The Russian Federation sent the most visitors, close to six million in 2018 and 4.72 million in 2017.

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Route 6