THE number of tourists coming to Antalya exceeded 5 million as of July 28 this year amid fresh data suggesting Turkey’s tourism industry is slowly coming out of the doldrums.
The Governor of Antalya Münir Karaloğlu said that the year-end target is 10 million tourists.
The number of tourists coming to Antalya from Jan. 1 to July 28 this year reached 5.21 million, out of which more than 2 million were Russian tourists. The total number of tourists for the whole of 2016 was 6.181 million.
Antalya, which experienced difficult periods last year due to restrictions imposed by Russia, has entered a period of recovery largely due to returning Russian tourists.
According to data from Antalya Airport, the total number of tourists arriving to Antalya reached 5.21 million as of Friday, July 28. The number of tourists has increased by 62 percent compared to the previous year.
As of Thursday, July 27, around 4.959 million tourists had arrived in the city and on Friday, July 28, a total of 61,571 passengers arrived via the International Terminal, pushing the total number to over 5 million. In July, the average number of tourists coming to Antalya everyday was 58,000, with 54,000 being the lowest and 68,000 being the highest.
On Friday, when the 5 million barrier was exceeded, the total number of arriving and departing flights to Antalya Airport was 771, while the total number of arriving and departing passengers, including domestic flights, was 141,896 persons.
Evaluating Antalya’s tourism boom, Karaloğlu said the figures were good and they have set a goal of “going over 10 million.”
Meanwhile, the Financial Times has reported Turkey is seeing an encouraging rise in tourism revenues in the second quarter.
Official figures show Turkey’s tourism income rose by 8.7 per cent to $5.41bn in the three months to the end of June, compared to the same period in 2016. The income figures will provide another boost to the government which has managed to turn on its taps to help the economy get back on track in the last two quarters.