Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 8
By Orkhan Quluzade – Trend:
Turkey is interested in high tourist flow from Azerbaijan, governor of Antalya province Munir Karaoglu told Trend Sept. 8.
He pointed out that some important steps will be taken in the province to attract a large number of Azerbaijani tourists.
Azerbaijani citizens mostly visit Istanbul, which is the cultural capital of Turkey, according to Karaoglu.
The governor said the number of Azerbaijani tourists visiting Antalya has reached the record level of 39,572 people in the first eight months of 2016.
The number of Azerbaijani tourists visiting Turkey stood at 35,674 people in 2015, 34,834 people – in 2014, 23,486 – in 2013 and 20,126 – in 2012, he added.
Earlier, Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in its report that in total, the number of tourists visiting Turkey decreased by 36.7 percent in July 2016, as compared to the same month in 2015, and stood at 3.4 million people.
A total of 14.2 million tourists traveled to Turkey in January-July 2016, or 30.3 percent less than in the same period in 2015.
As many as 29.6 million tourists visited Turkey and 12.4 million of them traveled to Istanbul in 2015, according to the country’s Statistics Institute.
Turkey’s revenues from tourism stood at $31.5 billion in 2015, or 8.3 percent less than in 2014.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @o_quluzade