Nearly 10.8M tourists arrive in Antalya in 8 months

Turkey's southern resort city and tourist hot spot, Antalya, welcomed 10.77 million tourists from 188 countries in the first eight months of the year.

A total of 437,615 local and 10.3 million foreign tourists arrived between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31, according to data compiled by the Antalya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, as the number of tourists increased by 17% from 9.2 million in the same period of 2018.

Russian tourists took the lead, as 3.9 million Russians arrived.

Germany came second with 1.7 million tourists, followed by Ukraine with 596,645, the U.K. with 530,444, and Poland with 400,214 tourists.

While the number of tourists in August was 2.6 million, 92,888 were domestic tourists. Dotted with nearby ancient ruins, Antalya is known for its natural beauty, historical structures, luxurious hotels and myriad international events.

While it broke a record with some 14 million tourists last year, the city is expected to achieve its goal of 16 million tourists in 2019.