Number of international tourist arrivals to Istanbul up 18.7 per cent

In the first 6 months of 2012, number of foreign tourists visiting Istanbul has been 4 million and 231 thousand, an 18.7 per cent increase compared to the first 6 months of 2011. The numbers are collected from Istanbul's Ataturk and Sabiha Gokcen Airports, Haydarpasa train station, Pendik and Kadikoy ports. 11.3 per cent of these foreign tourists were Germans, 6.2 per cent of them were Russian tourists and 5.2 per cent were Americans:

1 - Germany, 479,147
2 - Russia, 262,391
3- USA, 219,183
4 - France, 190,432
5- UK, 190,092
6 - Iran, 189,532
7 - Italy, 178,231
8 - The Netherlands, 121,680
9 - Libya, 94,292
10- Ukraine, 92,554
11 - Japan, 87,775
12 - Spain, 85,079
13 - Iraq, 84,414
14 - Azerbaijan, 83,054
15 - Saudi Arabia, 78,206
16 -  Others, 1,795,380


Istanbul Culture and Tourism Manager Prof. Dr. Ahmet Emre Bilgili said:

"Istanbul has hosted 4,230,612 international tourists in the first 6 months 2012 and this is 19 per cent increase compared to the first 6 months of 2011. If we assume that this trend continues until the end of 2012, the city can close the year with 9.5 million tourists."

Istanbul Hagia Sophia

Istanbul, the economic and cultural capital of Turkey, is one of the most important tourism spots of Turkey with thousands of hotels and other tourist oriented industries are catering to both leisure and business visitors. The city has two international airports handling more than 50 Million passengers a year and several ports for cruisers and ships.Istanbul is also one of the world’s major conference destinations and is an increasingly popular choice for the world’s leading international associations.[1]

Source : Istanbul 2012'nin ilk yarisini yuzde 18.7 artisla kapatti (Turkish)

[1] - Economy of Istanbul