The Russian invasion in Antalya: 4.6 million Russians rested at the resort

Every third tourist at the main Turkish resort of Antalya this year is from Russia. The results of the season in Antalya are called historical, but in tourism a record tourist flow did not lead to an increase in income. Antalya Municipality has summed up the results of inbound tourism for 11 months of 2018. According to Antalya airport data, over the reporting period more than 12.5 million foreign arrivals were recorded (+ 30% growth compared to the same period in 2017). Russia heads the ranking of the countries from which the largest number of holidaymakers came. According to statistics, in January-November more than 4.57 million Russians rested on the beaches of the province of Antalya. This is 24% more (in absolute terms + 875 thousand people) than it was during the same period of 2017. The number of Russian tourists two times more than from Germany (2.22 million people) and exceeded the number of tourists from Ukraine more than 6 times (the third place in income flow to Antalya, 709 thousand people). The TOP-5 of source markets for the Turkish resort also includes the United Kingdom (624 thousand) and Poland (374 thousand tourists). As a result, the share of the Russian market amounted up to 36.52% of the total inbound traffic to Antalya, Germany - 17.8%, Ukraine - 5.67%. Of the 24 incoming markets, 22 showed an increase in annual terms. Decrease in volumes was noted only for the Iranian and Kazakhstan markets. Nevertheless, the growth of foreign tourist traffic this year has not brought to Antalya a significant growth of income: tourists who don’t want to spend money in restaurants in the city go to the resort, which is known for its widespread all-inclusive system. According to Turkish experts, in the country the income from one tourist this year as a whole fell to a record low level: for the first 9 months of 2018 it amounted only 625 US dollars. A year ago, this figure was 630 dollars, and in 2014-2015 - 715 dollars. 2005 was a record in terms of profitability, when, on average, each tourist brought 766 dollars to the Turkish budget.