30 million people spent their holidays in Turkey

30 million people spent their holidays in Turkey

For the Turkish tourism industry 2011 became one of the most successful years in its history. In early 2011 Turkish tourism industry experts when discussing the possible tourist traffic mentioned that 30 million tourists per year would be the most optimistic figure. But the results surpassed even the wildest expectations. In total 31, 4 million business travelers and tourists visited Turkey. It is by 9% higher than in 2010, which was also regarded as successful in Turkey.

Five most visited Turkish cities in 2011:

1. Antalya %33.27 (10.464.425)
2. Istanbul %25.61 (8.056.390)
3. Mugla %9.78 (3.076.508)
4. Edirne %8.59 (2.703.085)
5. Izmir %4.36 (1.370.018)

The most frequent visitors of the Turkish resorts were Germans. In total, over 4.8 million people from Germany chose to holiday in Turkey in 2011. The second place is firmly occupied by the tourists from Russia, who account for 3.4 million of the entire number of tourists. On the third place are British. Shores of the Aegean and Mediterranean seas, as well as other parts of the country were visited by 2.5 million vacationers from the Albion. According to ftnnews.com, the number of German tourists in Turkey in 2011 grew by 15% compared to 2010, the number of Russians increased by 11%, Britons - by 8%.

Among the countries, which citizens were the most active visitors in Turkey, are also Iran, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Georgia, France, Syria and the United States.

Such increased demand for Turkish resorts can be explained not only by the tourism marketing success, but also numerous events of international level hosted by this country. In addition, one of the most important tourism centers of Turkey - Istanbul - was named the 2011 Cultural Capital of Europe, which also increased the number of visitors.

Ilya Kalachev

Date: 01/02/2012