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Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has released tourism statistics for the first half of 2024. During this period, nearly 1.8 million tourists from the UK traveled to Turkey, representing a remarkable growth of 19% compared to the same period in 2023.

At a press conference in Istanbul, Minister Ersoy announced that Turkey recorded a 13.9% increase in international visitors in the first six months of 2024. By the end of June 2024, the total number of tourists visiting Turkey reached 26.1 million.

Turkey’s tourism revenue also saw significant growth, rising by 9.3% to £18.5 billion. The average daily spend per visitor in Turkey rose to £76. Minister Ersoy stressed that these first-half results are in line with Turkey’s ambitious year-end targets of welcoming 60 million visitors and generating £47 billion in revenue.

Türkiye continues to record robust growth in its key markets

Traditional strongholds such as Russia, Germany and the United Kingdom continued to see robust growth, with tourists flocking to popular destinations in Turkey, including Antalya, Istanbul, Izmir and Muğla. More than 2.7 million Russian tourists chose Turkey for their holidays, representing a 3% increase between January and June 2024. The number of German tourist arrivals exceeded 2.5 million, representing 9% growth in this market. The United Kingdom, Turkey’s third-largest market, saw a 19% increase, with nearly 1.8 million British visitors arriving in the first half of the year.

Turkey also recorded the strongest growth in the Chinese market, welcoming over 187,000 visitors, an impressive 111% increase year-on-year. In addition, more than 56,000 Japanese tourists visited Turkey in the first half of 2024, a 96% increase over the same period in 2023.

Increasing demand for cultural heritage

Turkey’s unique historical, cultural and archaeological heritage continues to attract interest worldwide.

In the first six months of 2024, Turkey’s museums and historical sites attracted nearly 14 million visitors, a 12% increase year-on-year. The most popular cultural monuments during this period included Ephesus in Izmir, the Mevlana Museum in Konya, Hierapolis and Pamukkale in Denizli, and Göreme and Zelve/Paşabağları in Cappadocia/Nevşehir.