Turkey has published official statistics on tourist arrivals for 2019. Russia set a new record of tourist flow to Turkey. Every sixth foreign tourist who visited Turkey last year was a citizen of the Russian Federation.
The Ministry of Tourism and Culture of Turkey has published statistics on entry for 2019. In total, last year (including visits by ethnic Turks living abroad) 57,7 million foreign visitors (+ 12,2%) visited the country.
Excluding ethnic Turks from abroad, the foreign entry flow amounted to 45 million people, which is 14,11% higher than in 2018.
Russia remains the number one on inbound tourism market of Turkey. In 2019, more than 7 million of Russians visited Turkey (7 017 657). This is 17,65% more than in 2018.
Nevertheless, the dynamics of the growth of the volume of Russian tourist flow in Turkey slowed down a bit - the increase of tourist flow in 2018 compared to 2017 amounted to 26,5%.
In total, over the past three years, the share of the Russian Federation in the inbound traffic of Turkey has grown: in 2019 it amounted to 15,57% (in 2017 – 14,55%, in 2018 – 15,1%).
In December, 6,7 million foreign tourists visited Turkey (+ 1% compared to December 2019), including more than 130 thousand Russians (+ 31,6%). This is also a record testifying the growing popularity of the destination in the winter.
In December 2019, the Russian Federation entered the TOP-5 of the Turkish entry markets with a share of 6,08% of the total incoming tourist flow. A year ago, this indicator was 4,01%.
According to Turkish statistics, Russians are among the most economical tourists in Turkey. On average, each of them spent 471 dollars during their stay in Turkey.
