The number of tourists coming to Turkey increases by 308 percent

The number of foreigners coming to Turkey has increased by 308.48 percent to 3.8 million in May 2022, compared to the same month last year. However, it decreased by 5 percent compared to the same month of 2019, the pre-pandemic period.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has published the “Border Statistics” for May 2022. The number of foreigners visiting Turkey in May 2022, increased by 308.48 percent compared to the same month last year. The number of foreigners visiting Turkey was 3 million 824 thousand 555 in May.

Although the number of foreign visitors increased this year due to the end of travel bans, it continued to remain below the pre-pandemic period of 2019. The number of visitors to Turkey in May 2019 was 4 million. Accordingly, the number of foreign visitors was 5 percent less than before the pandemic.

On the other hand, 0.98 percent of the visitors who came to Turkey in May 2022 were daily visitors. According to media 37 percent of visitors used crossings in Istanbul region and 30 percent used entrance points in Antalya. This figure was 10 percent for Edirne.

GERMANY RANKS NUMBER ONE WITH HIGHEST NUMBER OF VISITORS TO TURKEY

In January –  May (2022) period, the number of foreigners visiting Turkey increased by 207.1 percent compared to the same period last year and amounted to 11 million 301 thousand 602.

Germany became the first with 12.94 percent (494 thousand 929) and the UK was the second with 10.33 percent (395 thousand 56), the Russian Fed ranked third with 9.48 percent (362 thousand 676)

WAR IN UKRAINE HAD AN IMPACT ON TOURISM FIGURES

On the other hand, the Russian-Ukrainian war also affected tourism. In May the number of Ukrainian visitors to Turkey decreased by 77 percent year-on-year, compared to the same period of the previous year by 43 percent, while the number of Russian visitors to Turkey increased by 1,778 percent year-on-year and 49.4 percent in January – May period.