The number of international tourists travelling to Turkey between January and November this year has climbed to 40,719,786 tourists, representing a 14.47% increase when compared to the same period last year.

Contributing to this rise is a significant surge in the number of visitors travelling in from neighbouring Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, with the largest influx from Kuwait, followed by Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE. A total of 74,530 Bahraini nationals travelled to Turkey over this period, according to the Turkish Cultural and Tourism Office in Dubai, representing an 18.05% increase when compared to the same period last year.

“Shopping, medical tourism and gastronomy are some of the biggest draws for tourists visiting Turkey from the GCC countries,” noted Salih Ozer, attaché of culture and information of Turkey to the UAE. “Areas such as Istanbul, Bursa, Yalova, Trabzon and Antalya are all popular with Middle Eastern travellers. Most tourists come to us in the summer period of June to August and the winter months of December to February.”

Of the nearly 41 million foreign visitors to Turkey so far this year, the largest faction has travelled in from Russia, with 6,694,453 visitors, representing almost 16.5% of the total number, and followed by tourists from Germany, the UK and Bulgaria.