FOREIGNERS visiting Turkey surged 24% on a yearly basis in April, the Culture and Tourism Ministry revealed today (Friday).

Nearly 3.3 million foreign visitors entered the country last month, ministry data showed, Yeni Safak newspaper reported.

Istanbul was the top tourist draw in the country, attracting 40% of all visitors — more than 1.3 million. Antalya followed with 28% or over 930,000 foreign visitors.

Edirne, which borders both Bulgaria and Greece, saw the third-highest number of foreigners with 373,527 last month.

Russians accounted for more than 390,000 of the visitors, followed by Germans with 11.4% (376,059 visitors), and Bulgarians with 7.8% (256,072).

In the first four months of this year, the country welcomed 8.7 million foreign visitors, up 12.2% year-on-year.