Turkey’s tourism revenues nearly tripled in the second quarter while first-half foreign visitor numbers surged close to 2019 levels, data has showed.

Revenues surged 190% from a year earlier to $8.72 billion in the April-June period, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data showed.

In June, the number of foreign visitors arriving in Turkey leaped 145% from a year earlier to more than 5 million, with first-half numbers hitting 16.37 million, up 186% from a year ago, the Culture and Tourism Ministry said.

Following the lifting of tight restrictions at the height of the pandemic, the rebound has been vital for the country’s crucial industry as the government aims for a current account surplus.

1.3 million Brits come to Turkey

The data showed that Germans made up the largest chunk of foreign visitors in January-June with over 2 million arrivals, nearly fourfold compared to a year ago.

Russians followed with 1.5 million, Britons with 1.3 million, and Bulgarians with 1.2 million in the first six months.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was expected to impact the arrivals from Turkey’s top tourist sources, just as the sector recovered from the outbreak.

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Ersoy said Turkey aimed for $37 billion in tourism revenues and 47 million tourists this year, raising its targets from $35 billion and 45 million.

The data showed some 83.8% of income in the second quarter was obtained from foreign visitors and 16.2% from Turkish citizens residing abroad.

In 2021, tourism revenues doubled to almost $25 billion, recovering from the worst of the COVID-19 impact, but remaining well below the level recorded in 2019.

Istanbul welcomed 41.3% of all foreign visitors, or 6.8 million, in the first half. Antalya ranked second with 24.7% or more than 4 million tourists. Edirne in northwestern Turkey, bordering both Bulgaria and Greece, followed with a 10.7% share or 1.8 million visitors.

The number of foreign visitors soared 94.1% to 24.71 million last year when COVID-19 measures were eased compared to 2020.

Russians and Ukrainians were the country’s first and third biggest sources of visitors, respectively, in 2021. Russians accounted for 19% of foreign visitors, with 4.7 million people, while Ukraine was the third-largest at 8.3%, with 2.1 million people.

Officials had hoped tourism this year could replicate or exceed the numbers from 2019, when some 52 million visitors – including about 7 million Russians and 1.6 million Ukrainians – brought in $34 billion in revenue.