Turkey welcomes 3m tourists in first 2 months of 2018

illuminated new year light decorations are seen in Istanbul, Turkey on 22 December 2017 [Arif Hüdaverdi Yaman/Anadolu Agency]

Turkey welcomed 3 million foreign visitors in the first two months of 2018, the Culture and Tourism Ministry said on Friday as reported on Anadolu Agency.

Three million foreign nationals visited Turkey in January and February, up 35 percent from same months in 2017, the ministry said in a statement.

Iran topped the list of visitors by country, with over 350,000, followed by Georgia with over 307,000 and Bulgaria with over 231,000.

Turkey also hosted some 197,000 tourists from Germany and 134,000 visitors from Russia.

Well over half of the foreign visitors last month, over 1.6 million people came to the tourist hotspot of Istanbul.

Culture and Tourism Minister Numan Kurtulmus previously said that Turkey hopes to attract at least 38 million tourists in 2018.

Kurtulmus said Turkey hosted over 32 million tourists last year, earning $26.5 billion.

On Thursday a British travel group said Turkey is continuing to rebound and is on track to return to the level of demand it reached in 2015.

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