According to figures published by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the number of foreigners visiting Turkey in September 2023 increased by 5.7% to 5,786,027 from 5,475,453 in the same month of the previous year.
In September 2023, the largest proportion of foreign arrivals to Turkey were from Russia with 814,751 visitors, followed by Germany with 772,209 visitors, UK with 505,233 visitors, Iran with 332,093 visitors, Bulgaria with 323,927 visitors, and Poland with 264,574 visitors.
In the first nine months of 2023, the number of foreigners visiting Turkey was 39,212,967 visitors, an increase of 12.7% on the figure for the same period of the previous year. The figure is also a 7.6% increase over the previous record figure of 36,428,212 visitors for the same period in 2019. In this year’s period, the largest proportion of foreign arrivals to Turkey were from Russia with 5,166,005, followed by Germany with 4,855,203 visitors, UK with 3,157,421 visitors, Bulgaria with 2,152,261 visitors, and Iran with 1,867,146 visitors.
The total number of foreign tourists in the total year of 2022 was 44,564,395 visitors, an increase of 80.3% on the number in the previous year, but still 1.1% below the figure for 2019. In 2022, most foreign visitors to Turkey were from Germany, with a total of 5,679,194, an increase of 84.1% on the previous year of 2021 and an increase of 13% on the previous record year of 2019. Visitors from Russia were next with a total of 5,232,611, an increase of 11.5% on the previous year but a decrease of 25.4% on the pre-Covid record figure for 2019. Visitors from Russia would have been much higher if it was not for Russia’s conflict with Ukraine. The country providing the next highest number of visitors was the UK with 3,370,739 visitors, an incredible 758.2% increase on the 392,746 visitors in the previous year of 2021, and an increase of 31.6% on the previous record of 2,562,064 visitors in 2019. Bulgarian nationals comprised the next highest visitor figure to Turkey in 2022 with 2,882,512, an increase of 105.5% on the previous year of 2021, and an increase of 6.2% on the record figure for 2019. Iran came next with 2,331,076 visitors, an increase of 102.2% on the previous year of 2021, and an increase of 10.9% on the record figure for 2018. There was a big fall of 67.2% in the number of tourists from Ukraine in 2022, caused by the conflict with Russia, to 675,467 visitors compared with 2,060,008 visitors in the previous year of 2021. Indeed, if it was not for the conflict in 2022 between Russia and Ukraine, the total number of foreign visitors to Turkey in 2022 would have been well above the record number registered 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. This figure was a record and, before the Covid crisis which started in March 2020, Turkey’s tourism industry was expected to grow further in 2020 and in the years to come. 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 very promising improvement in 2022. The low value of the Turkish lira has made Turkey especially attractive. It is now clear that the number of foreigners visiting Turkey in 2023 will easily surpass the record of 45 million in 2019.