Turkey sees rising tourist numbers in jan-july

The number of tourists visiting Turkey in the first seven months of the year rose 1.1 percent year-on-year, the Culture and Tourism Ministry said yesterday. Some 14.9 million tourists visited Turkey from January to July. Some 4.34 million tourists visited Turkey in July alone, a 6.23 percent increase year-on-year. Antalya received the highest number of tourists in January-July with 4.47 million, followed by Istanbul with 4.18 million. Mugla saw 1.45 million tourists, while 689,000 visited the northwestern province of Edirne and 637,000 entered Turkey via Artvin. Germany sent the highest number of tourists to Turkey, with 2.46 million, while Russia followed with 1.47 million. Britain sent 1.27 million tourists to Turkey, and 767,000 came from Bulgaria.