Number of tourists exceeded 42 million in 2022
According to the tourism statistics of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for November, the number of foreign visitors increased by 44.6 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 2.5 million. Compared to November 2019, the increase remained at 16.5 percent. With November, the number of foreign visitors in 2022 exceeded 42 million. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism shared the data on foreigners and citizens entering and exiting in November 2022. Accordingly, the number of foreign tourists increased by 44.64 percent in November compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching 2 million 551 thousand 483. In the list of countries sending the most visitors to Turkey in November, Russia ranked first with 12.25 percent, Bulgaria second with 9.12 percent, and Germany third with 8.13 percent. Germany was followed by Iran and Georgia. In the January-November period, it increased by 84.77 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 42 million 164 thousand 954. In the January-November period, Germany came in first with 13 percent, the Russian Fed. came in second with 11.73 percent, and the UK came in third with 7.83 percent. The UK was followed by Bulgaria and Iran. In the January-November period of 2022, 2.16 percent of foreign visitors to Turkey were day trippers. "We are targeting 51.5 million visitors in 2022" Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy had shared the targets regarding the number of visitors in the 2023 Budget presentation of his ministry and its affiliated organizations at the TBMM General Assembly. Minister Ersoy, explaining the targets regarding the number of visitors, said, "We are revising our 2022 year-end target upwards once again as 51.5 million visitors and 46 billion dollars in revenue. Our targets for 2023 are much bigger. 60 million visitors and 56 billion dollars in revenue. All these figures show us the following. In the New Turkish Century, we, as Turkey, are now in the super league in tourism. We see the countries that do this job at the highest level as our competitors and we are progressing in line with our targets."