Number of tourists visiting Istanbul increaes by 18 percent in january

According to data provided by the Istanbul Culture and Tourism Directorate on Monday, Istanbul saw the number of foreign visitors in January increase by 18 percent over the same month a year ago, reaching more than 532,000. In the list of countries that sent the highest number of visitors to Istanbul in January, 7.7 percent came from Germany which was followed by Russia with 7.3 percent and the United Kingdom with 4.1 percent. Speaking on these figures, Directorate Manager of the Istanbul Culture and Tourism Directorate Ahmet Emre Bilgili said the early encouraging figures will boost morale in the city's tourism sector and that Istanbul looked to attract even more visitors this year compared to 2012.