Istanbul (TAN): The Turkish capital has seen tourist arrivals touching a five-year high in the first five months of 2019.
A government statement said Istanbul welcomed around 5.42 million visitors during this time. This is an 11 per cent increase as compared to the same period the previous year.
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“Istanbul, which is one of the world’s tourism capitals thanks to its historical, cultural and natural riches, set a five-year record by hosting 5.4 million tourists in the first five months of this year. Istanbul is steadily moving closer toward its goal of (hosting) 15 million tourists in 2019,” Daily Sabah quoted the statement as saying.
The largest number of visitors came from Germany (394,925 people) followed by Iran (337,428) and Russia (290,985).
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“We are number one in the world with our hotels, bed capacity, accommodations and service quality. Our price policies are quite competitive as well,” Daily Sabah quoted Istanbul governor Ali Yerlikaya as saying. “All these make our Istanbul unique in all kinds of tourism. Our target is to enter the top three in all tourism headings and number of visitors.”
