Tourist arrivals in Türkiye drop by 5% in July

The number of foreign visitors arriving in Türkiye declined in July for the third consecutive month, according to official data released on Friday.

Foreign arrivals fell 5% from a year earlier to 6.97 million last month, the Culture and Tourism Ministry said. That compares with 7.33 million visitors in July 2024 and 7.14 million in July 2023.

The number of tourists had fallen by 1.8% year-over-year in May and 1.5% in June.

Germany remained Türkiye’s largest source market, accounting for 14% of total arrivals with nearly 981,000 visitors, with Russia ranking second with 953,733 visitors.

They were followed by the United Kingdom, Poland and the Netherlands, the data showed.

The decline in July was largely driven by Europe, Türkiye’s biggest source market. The number of European visitors fell 5% compared with a year earlier.

Arrivals from the United States dropped sharply by 21.9%, with 42,502 fewer visitors than last July. Iranian tourists also decreased, falling nearly 19% to 253,523, while arrivals from Greece dropped 14.4%.

The ministry has not yet provided a breakdown on whether geopolitical tensions, economic headwinds, or other seasonal factors influenced the slowdown.

Tourism sector representatives have said higher prices in Türkiye have hit demand.

From January through July, Türkiye hosted 2.1% fewer tourists compared with the same period last year, the data showed.

For the whole of 2025, the country aims to attract 65 million visitors and generate $64 billion in tourism revenue. Foreign arrivals jumped to 52.6 million last year, surpassing the previous record of 49.2 million in 2023.

That figure reached nearly 62.3 million when visits by Turks living abroad are included, making it the world’s fourth-most visited country, according to data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

Tourism is a vital industry that Türkiye relies on to help flip its chronic current account deficit to a surplus.

The sector contributes about 10% to Türkiye’s gross domestic product (GDP) and accounts for about 5% of total employment.

The tourism income jumped 8.3% in 2024 to $61.1 billion and blew past the previous high of $54.3 billion in 2023.

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