Istanbul faces slump in tourism

ISTANBUL – Anatolia News Agency

Data from the Istanbul culture and tourism directorate showed the number of foreign tourists visiting the metropolis dropped by 5.9 percent year-on-year between January and November in 2010.

Istanbul attracted 7.2 million foreign tourists in the first 11 months of 2010.

Data from the Istanbul culture and tourism directorate showed the number of foreign tourists visiting the metropolis dropped by 5.9 percent year-on-year between January and November in 2010.

Istanbul hosted 294,352 foreign tourists in January, 372,713 tourists in February, 489,884 tourists in March, 588,601 tourists in April, 688,821 tourists in May, 659,117 tourists in June, 819,420 tourists in July, 630,636 foreign tourists in August, 712,583 tourists in September, 715,567 tourists in October and 517,318 tourists in November.

Among the countries that sent largest number of tourists to Turkey, Germany ranked first with 12.9 percent, followed by Italy and the Russian Federation.