The number of Russians in Antalya exceeded the number of Germans

Turkey believes that after the record summer season of 2019, the Russians will actively have holidays on Antalya beaches in the winter months. In the winter season, flights to Antalya are planned from 16 cities of Russia.  For the first 10 months of 2019, 14,3 million foreign tourists visited the Antalya coast (+ 17,4% compared with the same period in 2018). Every third tourist on the beaches of Antalya this year turned out to be a Russian. 

According to the Office of Culture and Tourism of Antalya, in January-October, 5 414 602 tourists from Russia came in local hotels. In annual terms, the Russian tourist flow to Antalya grew by almost 13%.  In total, the number of tourists from Russia over 10 months exceeded the number of tourists from Germany (2,5 million people) and Ukraine (795 thousand people). These countries are on the second and third positions, respectively. 

There are many Russians in Antalya and at the end of the summer season. According to provincial statistics, in October 652 000 Russians, 421 000 Germans, 72 000 Ukrainians, more than 62 000 British and 54 000 Dutch visited Antalya.  According to Turkish experts, in 2020 Antalya can count on 20 million foreign tourists, including at least 6 million tourists from Russia. In 2018 Antalya was visited by 4,8 million Russians.  According to the Association of Professional Hotel Managers of Turkey (POYD), the high occupancy of Antalya hotels in October (more than 80%) was largely due to the activity of the Russian market, which is “extremely important”. According to POYD forecasts, the Russian tourist flow, which has grown steadily over the past three years, will remain active in the winter season.  As it was previously reported, in the winter 2019-2020 season flights to Antalya will be operated from 16 Russian cities. Most flights are planned for the period of the New Year holidays.