Tourist arrivals in Antalya leap more than 90 percent

Nearly 516,000 foreign tourists have visited Turkey's major holiday destination in the first three months of 2020, marking a robust 93 percent increase from a year ago.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the anti-virus measures, more than 9 million international tourists visited Antalya in 2021. The local tourism industry managed to continue to lure foreign tourists in the first quarter of this year thanks to the Safe Tourism Certificate, which requires hotels to follow strict rules against the coronavirus. 

In the January-March of 2021, the city welcomed 267,000 international visitors, but foreign tourist arrivals climbed to 515,993 people in the same period of 2022, according to data from the provincial directorate of culture and tourism.

More than 111,000 German holidaymakers arrived in the city, located on the country's Mediterranean coast, in February alone, data showed. Russians claimed the second spot with 86,400 people. Antalya also welcomed nearly 58,000 visitors from the United Kingdom.

At the start of the year, hoteliers in the city had high hopes for a new tourism season, especially for the summer, as nations around the globe are relaxing travel-related restrictions.

However, the war in Ukraine is causing concerns that there could be fewer arrivals from Russia and Ukraine this year. People from the industry also voice concern that in the event of a prolonged conflict, tourist inflows from European countries may decline this year due to the wider economic impact of the war on nations.

Meanwhile, representatives of German tourism agencies paid a three-day visit to Antalya to hold talks with their peers and hoteliers. They were also briefed on the Safe Tourism Certificate.