According to figures published by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the number of foreigners visiting Turkey in January 2026 increased by 3.5% to 2,246,639 from 2,171,116 in the same month of the previous year. The expected fall in foreign tourists coming to Turkey due to the overvalued Turkish lira has yet to materialise.
In January 2026, there have again been decreases in tourists from neighbouring countries such as Greece (-6.8%), Azerbaijan (-8%), Iran (-6.4%), Georgia (-5.1%), and Iraq (11%). However, there was a surprise increase from Bulgaria (3.6%). Due to the cheap Turkish lira in recent years Turkey had been a popular destination for visitors who could pop across the border to purchase cheaper Turkish goods. However, the overvaluation of the Turkish lira since mid -2024, brought about by the Turkish government to help bring down inflation, has drastically increased the cost of Turkish goods.
In January 2026, the largest influx of foreign arrivals to Turkey was from Iran with 225,205 visitors, followed by Russia with 220,160 visitors, Bulgaria with 171,687 visitors, and Germany with 160,757 visitors.
The total number of foreign tourists in the year of 2025 was 52,775,261 visitors, an increase of 0.3% on the number in the previous year. In 2025, the country with the highest number of visitors to Turkey was Russia, with a total of 6,904,011, an increase of 2.9% on the previous year of 2024, but still 1.6% below its previous highest number recorded in 2019. Visitors from Russia would have been much higher if it was not for Russia’s on-going conflict with Ukraine. Visitors from Germany were next with a total of 6,745,190, an increase of 1.9% on the previous year, followed by the UK with 4,270,038 visitors, a decrease of 3.7%, by Iran with 3,050,195 visitors, a decrease of 7%, by Bulgaria with 2,808,357 visitors, a decrease of 3.8%, by Poland with 1,914,958 visitors, an increase of 2.6%, by the USA with 1,584,725 visitors, an increase of 9.9%, and by Georgia with 1,327,887 visitors, a decrease of 9.4%. There was an improvement in the number of visitors from Ukraine by 9% to 1,026,603, but this was still well below the 2021 prewar figure of 2,060,008 recorded in 2019.
The total number of foreigners visiting Turkey in the year 2019 had increased by 14.1% to 45,058,286 compared with the previous year, a new record. Despite expectations to the contrary, this figure fell drastically in 2020 and 2021 as a result of the Covid pandemic. However, following the lifting of nearly all restrictions relating to the pandemic in the Summer of 2021, the number of tourists visiting Turkey has shown a dramatic recovery, with the number of foreign visitors recovering to 44.6 million in 2022, to 49.2 million in 2023, to 52.6 million in 2024, and to 52.8 million in 2025.