Istanbul ranks 9th place in world tourism list

ANKARA

Istanbul took the ninth place, and Antalya was ranked 11th in Euromonitor’s “Top 100 City Destinations” list, a report released on Friday which monitors the number of international tourist arrivals.

Turkey’s Artvin, a Black Sea destination, made the list in last place at number 100.

Wouter Geerts, travel analyst at Euromonitor in London, noted that the top cities like Istanbul and Antalya saw increased tourism in 2014, despite geopolitical tensions. He attributed this positive performance to continuing economic growth at key destinations.

“Arrivals continued to grow in global urban centers in 2014, illustrating the economic importance of tourism to the world’s cities,” Geerts pointed out.

Hong Kong remained at the number one slot on the ranking as it has for the past five years, according to the report.

London came next, and Singapore was third.

Istanbul moved up two places to join the top 10 at ranking number nine, with a 13.2 percent increase in the number of visitors to 11.8 million in 2014. The report noted that increasing numbers of visitors are coming to Istanbul from the Gulf and other Arab states, as they feel at home in the city.

Turkey’s increasing economic growth is also attracting large numbers of businesspeople to the country’s largest city.

Antalya attracted 11.1 million tourists to its luxury resorts and famous beaches.

And Artvin pulled in 1.8 million tourists in 2014, just behind Taichung in Taiwan.