Antalya sees 12.6 pct decline in tourists

Turkey's southwestern coastal city of Antalya welcomed 12.6 percent fewer tourists in the first four months of 2015 than in the same period last year, according to data released by Association of Mediterranean Tourism and Hoteliers of Turkey on May 5.

Nearly 1.15 million tourists have visited Antalya this year, while the country's largest sea province received some 1.31 million tourists in the first four months of 2014, according to the data.

German visitors ranked at the top of the list with some 490,000 arrivals, an increase of 5.7 percent compared with the same period of last year.

The number of Russian tourists visiting Antalya decreased by 40 percent in the first four months of the year, as the ruble declined sharply against the dollar during this period.

The number of Russian tourists visiting the city decreased from 210,657 in the first four months of last year to 126,839 in the same period of 2015, the association said.

The data also showed the number of Dutch tourists visiting Antalya decreased by 26.7 percent, while the number of British tourists increased by 2.5 percent.

The biggest decrease was seen in the number of tourists from Iran, Sweden, Denmark, Israel, France and Belgium.

The biggest increase was seen in the number of tourists from Italy, Finland and Ireland.

Turkey attracted more than 4.26 million Russians in 2014, over 10 percent of the 37 million total tourists who visited the country.