Antalya sees record 2.1 million tourists arrive

Data has shown that Antalya is going through what is currently being called the best start to the year ever, with the southern resort city welcoming a record number of tourists from abroad arriving the country by plane.

Between January 1 and May 7, more than 2.1 million tourists landed in the gem by the Mediterranean; this has been shown through data provided by the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism.

Increase from all previous years

This marked an increase of 45% on previous figures when 1.65 million tourists arrived during the same period in 2022. This also marks a jump of 10% on visitors who arrived during the same period in 2019, which was dubbed one of the best years ever by many within the Turkish tourism industry. During 2019, around 1.91 million tourists flocked to the Mediterranean gem Antalya in the same period.

Momentum thanks to Europeans and Russians

The momentum seen this year has been driven by hordes of tourists flocking from Europe, especially from Germany and the United Kingdom. In addition to this, the arrivals from Russia have boasted the numbers.

According to the data shared by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, the overall number of foreign tourists in Turkey rose during the first quarter by over 26.7% to 6.2 million year-on-year.

Income continues to rise year-over-year

During January to March of 2023, the data published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) has shown that income from tourism rose 32.3% year-on-year.

The complete rebound seen last year following the fallout seen from the pandemic saw the number of travellers arriving from abroad near the record, and because of this, all-time high revenues were generated. This impressive rebound prompted the government to increase the annual estimates for tourism for both arrivals and revenue.

Expectations for the year 2023

The government has said that they expect the number of foreign visitors to Turkey to reach around 60 million during 2023, before increasing further to 90 million by 2028. In terms of income revenue, they have also set the estimates as $56 billion for this year with this increasing to $100 billion by 2028.

How the tourism industry affects Turkey

Around 1.7 million people worked in the food and accommodation services industry in Turkey during the year of 2022, which is about 5% of total employment. Tourism as a whole contributed to approximately 10% of Turkey’s GDP, or Gross Domestic Product.