Foreigner visits to Turkey rise in January

The number of foreigners visiting Turkey rose 5.3 percent year-on-year in January, the Culture and Tourism Ministry announced on Thursday.

Official figures showed that more than 1.5 million foreign visitors entered the country over the course of the month.

Istanbul, Turkey's largest city by population and a top tourist draw, attracted nearly 60 percent of all visitors -- nearly 919,000 -- in the first month of the year.

The northwestern province of Edirne, which borders both Bulgaria and Greece, welcomed the second-highest number of foreigners -- over 190,000 -- in January.

It was followed by Turkey's Black Sea province of Artvin, bordering Georgia, with nearly 119,000 foreign visitors.

Bulgarians made up almost 9 percent of foreign visitors, followed by Georgians at 7.3 percent, and German citizens at 6.6 percent.

Official data also showed air was the most popular way for foreign visitors to reach Turkey, with 1.1 million foreign travelers flying in, while over 408,000 used roadways.

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