Russia remains Turkey’s top tourist market - but beach resorts are not the reason

Turkey welcomed more than 25.8 million foreign tourists in the first half of 2026, according to the country’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy. Among them, nearly 2.65 million came from Russia. That is a 1.5% increase compared to the same period in 2025, and it keeps Russia as the number one source of tourists for Turkey.  Germany came second with 2.44 million visitors, and the United Kingdom third with 1.58 million.

In fact, Russia was the only major market to show any growth at all during the first half of the year – even if that growth was small. But here is the interesting part: the increase in Russian visitors did not come from the usual beach destinations. Instead, it came from more travellers using Istanbul as a stopover point on their way to other countries.

The numbers make this very clear. Antalya, Turkey’s most famous beach region, received 1,313,336 visits from Russians – that is 6.8% less than in the first half of 2025, and it makes up 49.6% of all Russian arrivals. The Aegean coast, around Muğla, saw only 111,864 Russian visits, down by 6.7%, or just 4.2% of the total. Meanwhile, Istanbul – including transit passengers – recorded 1,059,062 Russian visits, which is 13.7% higher than last year. That share now stands at 40% of all Russian tourists. The remaining 6.2% entered through other points.