Tourists to Turkey increased in 2011

The number of tourists who visited Turkey in the past seven months have increased by 10.64 percent, a report by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism revealed on Wednesday. The report noted that Turkey has succeeded in attracting nearly 17.625 million tourists in the past seven months, compared to 15.93 million to the same period of 2010. The Germans took the lead of the number of tourists who visited the country from January to July of 2011, followed by the Russians and the British. Antalya and Istanbul were the most visited cities in the country, the report noted. Antalya resort, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, was visited by 4.479 million tourists; a 33.57 percent of the total tourists' number. Mugla and its surrounding resorts attracted 9.48 percent of the tourists, followed by Edirne province, west of the country, which was visited by 9.11 percent then Izmir, which drew 4.2 percent of the tourists.