Often called Turkey's tourism capital, Antalya saw a 60 percent increase of tourists in the first 10 months of this year, welcoming around 9.48 million via Antalya Airport, compared to the same period last year, according to the Antalya Airport Administrative Authority.
The city was visited by about 444,507 Russian tourists from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31 last year, but saw a 724 percent increase, with around 3.66 million Russians coming in the same period this year out of the nearly 9.5 million tourists who came to Antalya.
For October, around 982,441 tourists came to the city, an increase of 24 percent compared to the same period last year.
Russian tourists visiting the city in the said period constituted 63 percent of the total number of tourists.
In October, Antalya welcomed around 361,251 Russians, an increase of 96 percent when compared to the same month last year when around 183,000 Russian tourists arrived. Russian tourists constituted 36.7 percent of all tourists in October.
The number of tourists from Germany, one of the countries with the highest number of tourists in Antalya in previous years, was below 2016 figures. Around 1.579 million German tourists came to Antalya in the first 10 months of this year, a decrease of 16 percent compared to the same period last year.
In October, the number of tourists from Germany decreased 17 percent compared to the same month last year, falling from 296,000 to 247,000.
Germans constituted 27 percent of the total number of tourists in the 10-month period and 25 percent in October.
The Ukrainian market, which has risen sharply since last year, saw to rise this year. The number of tourists from Ukraine, which was the second-most popular market along with Russia, saw an increase of 25 percent in the 10-month period, reaching 710,000.
In October, around 49,961 tourists came from Ukraine, which ranked third after Russia and Germany, the countries that have the highest number of tourists coming to Turkey, an increase of 28 percent compared to the same month last year.
Antalya also saw a 7 percent increase in tourists from the U.K. in the first 10 months of the year, reaching 350,000, while in October, there was an increase of 27 percent, reaching 45,000, compared to the same month last year. The British constituted 6 percent of all tourists in the country.
