Türkiye breaks tourism record in 2023 with 56.7M visitors

Türkiye breaks its record in 2023 with 56.7 million visitors and 54.3 billion dollars in revenue, says Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye Mehmet Nuri Ersoy

Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye Mehmet Nuri Ersoy Wednesday said that Türkiye broke its own record in 2023 with 56.7 million visitors and 54.3 billion dollars (TL 1.64 trillion) in revenue.

The minister spoke at the 2023 Tourism Data Evaluation Meeting in Ankara.

The year 2023  set new records in Türkiye’s tourism, the minister added.

Istanbul, Türkiye’s largest city by population, was the top tourist draw, attracting 17.4 million foreign visitors last year.

The famed resort city of Antalya on the Turkish Riviera ranked second with 14.8 million foreign visitors in 2023.

The northwestern province of Edirne, which borders both Bulgaria and Greece and the Aegean province of Mugla followed them with 4.7 million and 3.3 million, respectively.

Russians made up 12.8% of all foreign visitors or at 6.3 million, rising 20.7% from the previous year.

It was followed by Germans at 6.2 million (up 9% annually), Britons at 3.8 million (up 12.8%), Bulgarians at 2.9 million (up 0.4%), and Iranians at 2.5 million (up 7.4%).

Separate data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) showed that Türkiye’s tourism income surged 16.9% year-on-year to a total of $54.3 billion in 2023.

In December 2023, foreign arrivals in Türkiye rose 3.5% at an annualized pace to 2.5 million.

Bulgarians made up the largest chunk of foreign visitors in December with 251,895 arrivals.

They were followed by Germans with 233,416 visitors, Russians with 229,979, and Iranians with 213,156 last month.

Istanbul saw 53% of all foreign visitors, or 1.3 million in December. Edirne was placed second with 14.3% or 356,255 tourists. Antalya followed with a 10.5% share or 259,568 visitors.

Source: Newsroom & AA

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