Tourist arrivals in Turkey rebound in August to hit almost 7M

About 6.97 million foreigners arrived last month, a 2.05% increase compared to last year, the Culture and Tourism Ministry said.

Arrivals had fallen 5% in July, 1.8% in May and 1.5% in June.

Tourism sector representatives earlier said higher prices in Turkey have hit demand.

From January through August, the count still marked a 0.9% decline from a year ago and stood at 35.48 million, the ministry data showed.

That figure reached 40.47 million when visits by Turks living abroad are included.

Russia outseated Germany in August as Turkey 's largest source market with 990,709 visitors. Germany ranked second with 989,839 visitors.

The United Kingdom wrapped up the top three with 638,937 visitors.

The ranking stood the same for the January-August period. Nearly 4.6 million Russians arrived in the first eight months, followed by 4.4 million visitors from Germany and just over 3 million from the U.K.

For the whole of 2025, the country aims to attract 65 million visitors and generate $64 billion in tourism revenue. Arrivals jumped to 52.6 million last year, surpassing the previous record of 49.2 million in 2023.

That figure reached nearly 62.3 million when visits by Turks living abroad are included, making it the world's fourth-most visited country, according to data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

Tourism is a vital industry that Turkey relies on to help flip its chronic current account deficit to a surplus.

The sector contributes about 10% to Turkey's gross domestic product (GDP) and accounts for about 5% of total employment.

The tourism income jumped 8.3% in 2024 to $61.1 billion and blew past the previous high of $54.3 billion in 2023.