ISTANBUL’S TOURIST NUMBERS ON THE RISE

According to an announcement by the Istanbul Department of Culture and Tourism, the numbers of tourists that visited Istanbul in the first seven months of the year were as follow:
January = 451,662
February = 494,124
March = 659,826
April = 818,788
May = 867,511
June = 939,508
July = 966,337
Total: 5,197,756 tourists
Last year, the total number of tourists that visited Turkey in the first seven months of the year was 4,440,371.
Out of the total 5,197,756 tourists that visited Istanbul in the first seven months of 2012, 4,938,108 flew into the city, while 259,648 came by sea. While the overall number of tourists increased by 16 percent year-on-year, the number of tourists that arrived via the airport increased by 17 percent and the number of those who came in by sea increased by six percent compared to figures from the year prior.

Out of the tourists that visited by sea, 228,129 entered the Karaköy Port as day trippers, while 14 percent of those who flew in, arrived to Sabiha Gökçen Airport.

44.5% INCREASE IN VISITORS FROM ARAB NATIONS

Looking at Istanbul's tourist figures from a country basis, Germans were the highest number nationals to visit Istanbul at 11.6 percent. Germans were followed by Russians at 5.8 percent. Americans were the third top nationality to visit Turkey with 5.3 percent, followed by the French at 4.7 percent, Brits at 4.6 percent, Iranians and Italians at 4.4 percent each, the Dutch at three percent, Libyans at 2.2 percent, Iraqis and Ukrainians at 2.1 percent, Spanish and Japanese at two percent and Azerbaijani and Saudi nationals at 1.9 percent.

During the seven month period, Istanbul hosted nationals from a total 195 countries, with one visitor each coming from Burma, the Faroe Islands, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Antarctica and the Cook Islands.

Compared to figures from the first seven months of the year prior, there was a 2.5 percent decrease in the number of visitors from Israel, a 1.1 percent decrease in the number of visitors from Azerbaijan and a 0.6 percent decrease in the number of Greek tourists.

The number of tourists to visit from Libya experienced the most dramatic increase this year with 665.8 percent, while the number of tourists to come from Tunisia also rose by 47.7 percent, followed by visitors from Egypt, which increased by 34.4 percent.

There was a 44.5 percent increase in the number of visitors from Arab nations during the January-July period, compared to the year prior, with the number of Arab tourists comprising 14.2 percent of the total number of visitors that came to Istanbul.