Antalya expects 12 million tourists this year

The number of foreign tourists visiting the province of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast may reach 12 million this year, according to a trading group.

More than 9 million foreign holidaymakers arrived in the city by plane between January and Aug. 31, data from the provincial directorate of culture and tourism showed.

This marked a strong 71 percent increase from the same period of last year. In the whole of 2021, the popular holiday destination welcomed 9 million visitors from other countries.

Germans topped the list of foreign visitors in the first eight months of 2022. Some 1.8 million German nationals vacationed in Antalya.

Despite the ongoing war in Ukraine, Russians continued to travel to the Mediterranean province. According to the official data, nearly 1.8 million Russians have visited Antalya since the start of the year.

Britons constituted the third-largest group of visitors at 805,000. Polish, Dutch, Kazakh, Romanians and Israelis were also on the top visitors' list.

Between June and August alone, more than 6 million foreign tourists arrived at Antalya Airport. In the first eight months, 50,721 airplanes departed/arrived at the airport. Of those flights, nearly 36,000 took place in the summer months. The airport hosted nearly 36,000 international flights in the January-August period.

Despite the poor start into 2022, tourism activity later gained momentum, said Ferit Turgut from the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), adding that the number of foreign tourists visiting Antalya may reach 12 million in 2022.

The tourist season may be extended well into Nov. 15, Turgut said, noting that the occupancy rate at Antalya's hotels is at 90 percent. "We were not very optimistic at the start of...