Over 3.2 million foreigners visited Turkey this year

ISTANBUL

Turkey hosted more than 3.2 million foreigners during the first two months of this year, the Culture and Tourism Ministry announced Friday.

The number of foreigners visiting Turkey rose 7.4 percent year-on-year in the period, official figures showed.

Istanbul, Turkey's largest city by population and a top tourist destination, attracted nearly 59 percent of all visitors -- 984,689 -- in the January-February period of the year.

The northwestern province of Edirne, which borders both Bulgaria and Greece, welcomed the second-highest number of foreigners -- over 203,498 -- in the same period.

It was followed by Turkey's Mediterranean resort city of Antalya with over 135,000 foreign visitors.

Bulgarians made up almost 8.55 percent of foreign visitors, followed by German citizens at 7.34 percent and Georgians at 7.25 percent.

Official data also showed air travel was the most popular way for foreign visitors to reach Turkey, with 2.3 million foreign travelers flying in, while over 850,000 used roads.

Last year, some 39.5 million foreigners entered the country, up from 32.4 million in 2017.