ISTANBUL
The number of foreign tourists visiting Turkey increased by 144.8 percent in the last ten years.
Number of foreign tourists visiting Turkey increased by 18,727,495 people between 2002 and 2012, according to the figures compiled by AA from statistics released by Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
The highest percentage in foreign tourists occurred with Iraq with 3,418.1 percent increase in ten years followed by Qatar (1,507.7%), Brazil (975.7%) and Argentina (914.1%).
When analyzing the figures in terms of persons visited Turkey, the highest increase in the number of foreign tourists took place in Russia with 2,676,713 people in ten years.
The only country that the number of foreign tourists visiting Turkey decreased was Israel. Israeli tourists visiting Turkey dropped by 67.7% in the ten-year period.
The highest number of tourists came from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) with an increase of 5,606.732 people in the last ten years, followed by African countries with an increase of 701,167 people corresponding to 293.7 percent. Africa was followed by the US (263.9%), Asia (222%) and Europe (92.5%).
