Ankara: Istanbul, one of the famous cities of Turkey, has established a new record in the tourism sector. As per the data released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, In the first nine months of the current year, 13 million 156 thousand 209 tourists visited Istanbul. This makes an 11.61 per cent increase compared to tourists who visited during the same period last year.
Notably, the month of September witnessed an increase of 1.55 per cent in tourists as compared to September 2022. Data further revealed that the maximum number of tourists who visited Istanbul belonged to the Russian Federation in the month of September. Similarly, visitors from Germany, Iran, and the USA visited respectively with second, third, and fourth places.
It is worth mentioning that from the Arab countries, Iraq has the highest number of visitors who travel to Istanbul, followed by Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, and Kuwait.
Another interesting fact that came to light was that the Airport in Istanbul was the first choice of the tourists who visited Turkey. Istanbul airport leads with 73.30 per cent of travellers visiting Istanbul in September.
Data also showed that in the first nine months, a total of nine million 248 thousand 934 persons chose Istanbul over the other airports in the countries.
It is to be specifically added that there was an increase of 1.01 per cent tourists in September at the Istanbul airport, reaching one million 586 thousand and 807 persons.
Data further bring into light the fact that a large number of tourists preferred the accommodation facility provided by the government. A total number of the one million 353 thousand 383 preferred the facility offered by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture in August 2023.
The total rate of occupancy in these government-aided facilities was 68.33 per cent as per the latest available and released data from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.