Russians have taken the lead among international tourists visiting Türkiye, with 5.8 million visitors in the first ten months of the current year.
Data provided by the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) show that Russians made up 21 percent of foreign tourists in Türkiye from January to October. Although there was a 26 percent increase in Russian tourists to Türkiye compared to the same period in 2022, the numbers remained 12.8 percent lower than the pre-pandemic levels recorded in 2019, VisaGuide.World reports.
After the Russians, German and British tourists ranked second and third in visits to Türkiye this year.
According to Deutsche Welle’s Turkish service, Antalya remains the top choice for Russian tourists in 2023, attracting 3.3 million visitors from January to October, marking a total of 17.5 percent increase from the same period in the previous year. Despite this positive trend, Antalya’s visitor numbers still fell short by 38.7 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
In October alone, 672,200 Russians visited Türkiye, reflecting a 12.5 percent decrease compared to the same month last year. This decline is attributed to the surge in Russian visitors to Türkiye in the previous year following Russia’s partial mobilization during the conflict with Ukraine.
Türkiye’s Culture and Tourism Ministry provided data indicating that Russians held the largest share among the 36 million tourists who visited the country in the initial eight months of 2023. In September alone, Russians amounted to 4,351,000 visitors, underscoring their significant contribution to Türkiye’s tourism sector.
Previous analysis from Mabrian revealed that Türkiye was the top destination for Russian travelers in 2022. The study considered criteria such as hotel demand and average room prices in over 700 global destinations, comparing data from the past year to 2019 trends.
Mabrian’s team utilized their Travel Intelligence platform, analyzing over two million reviews from Russians and hotel prices on major OTAs like Booking, Expedia, and TripAdvisor over the last two years.
Aside from Türkiye, other destinations gaining popularity among Russian tourists include the United Arab Emirates and Thailand in the Middle East and Asia. In addition, Georgia, Armenia, and Kazakhstan emerged among the top 20 preferred destinations for Russians in 2022.
From January to July 2023, the influx of foreign visitors to Türkiye surged by an impressive 128 percent compared to last year.
The substantial increase brought the total number of tourists to 23.3 million during these seven months. German tourists claimed the top spot among the visitors, constituting the largest group. Russians secured the second position, experiencing a noteworthy 41.36 percent increase, totaling 2.1 million. In comparison, the United Kingdom followed closely in third place with a 20.36 percent rise, reaching 1.8 million British tourists traveling to Türkiye.