Turkey draws nearly 25M foreign visitors in 7 months

ISTANBUL

Turkey welcomed 24.69 million foreign visitors in the first seven months of this year, according to new Culture and Tourism Ministry data.

The number of foreigners visiting the country rose 14.1% in January-July from the previous year, according to the data released Thursday.

The historic metropolis of Istanbul remained Turkey’s top tourist draw, attracting 34.2% of all visitors -- around 8.4 million.

The Mediterranean resort city of Antalya followed with 31.8% or over 7.85 million foreign visitors in the same period.

Edirne, in northwestern Turkey, which borders both Bulgaria and Greece, received the third-highest number of foreigners, with 2.5 million during the first seven months.