During January-November period, mostly German, Russian and British tourists preferred Turkey as a holiday destination and tourists mainly visited the Mediterranean region.

A total of 25,850,971 tourists visited Turkey in this period, with a 2.4 percent rise in last year's figures, officials said. Among these, there were 4.2 million Germans, 2.6 million Russians and 2.3 million British visitors.

Tourists from Iran, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Georgia, France, USA and Italy came to Turkey in January-November period as well. Most of the tourists arrived at the border gates in the Mediterranean province of Antalya, southwestern province of Mugla and Istanbul.

According to tourism officials, there has been a significant increase in the number of Iranian and Arabian tourists in 2009.

Nearly 140,000 Iranian tourists and more than a million visitors from the Middle East came to Turkey in the first 11 months. Officials also said that 70.3 percent of tourists arrived in Turkey via airway, while 21.6 percent preferred land route for travelling.


/World Bulletin/