According to data by Istanbul Culture and Tourism Directorate, 676,675 Arab tourists visited Istanbul between January and September 2011.
The number of Arab tourists visiting Istanbul year-on-year in the first nine months of 2011 rose by 26.7 percent.
According to data by Istanbul Culture and Tourism Directorate, 676,675 Arab tourists visited Istanbul between January and September 2011.
6,079,873 foreign tourists visited the city in the first nine months of 2011. A total of 5,654,128 foreign tourists had visited Istanbul in the same period last year.
Of foreigners who visited Turkey in the January-September period this year, Germans took the lead as it sent 743,094 visitors. Russia followed Germany with 369,006 of its nationals.
Ahmet Emre Bilgili, head of Istanbul Culture and Tourism Directorate, told AA correspondent that there had been a great hike in the number of Arab tourists visiting Istanbul. Bilgili said he considered that people wanted to see Turkey, as its popularity had been increasing in the world.
Mutual visa exemption between Turkey and Arab countries contributed to rise in number of Arab tourists, he said.
AA
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