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Türkiye welcomed nearly 5.7 million foreign visitors in October, signaling a continued rise in tourism activity ahead of the year-end season, according to official data released on Friday.
The number of foreign tourists arriving last month increased 4.3% year-over-year to 5.68 million, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said on social media platform X.
Germany and Russia remained Türkiye’s two largest source markets, while the United Kingdom ranked third. Arrivals from Germany rose 6.20% and visitors from Russia increased 11.44%, Ersoy said.
From January through October, total visitors, including Turkish citizens residing abroad, reached almost 55.68 million, while the number of foreign tourists stood at 47.25 million.
Istanbul, Türkiye’s largest city by population and a top tourist destination, welcomed 33.9% of all foreign visitors, or 16.01 million, in the 10 months.
It was followed by the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, and the northwestern city of Edirne, which borders both Bulgaria and Greece.
For the whole of 2025, Türkiye aims to attract 65 million visitors, including Turks living abroad, up from nearly 62.3 million last year.
That made Türkiye the world’s fourth-most visited country, according to data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
Foreign arrivals jumped to 52.6 million, surpassing the previous record of 49.2 million in 2023.
Tourism is a vital industry that Türkiye relies on to help flip its chronic current account deficit to a surplus.
The sector contributes about 10% to Türkiye’s gross domestic product (GDP) and accounts for about 5% of total employment.
The tourism income jumped 8.3% in 2024 to $61.1 billion and blew past the previous high of $54.3 billion in 2023.
Income surpassed $50 billion in the first nine months of this year, a 5.7% year-over-year increase.
