Tourist arrivals rise 46 percent in August as Russian tourism to Turkey surges

The number of foreign visitors arriving in Turkey rose almost by half in August, data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism showed on Friday, as the number of Russian tourists surged 671 percent after a great improvement in relations between Ankara and Moscow.

Foreign arrivals rose 46.4 percent in August to 4.66 million, marking a sharp rise. The increase follows a rising trend in tourism numbers since April.

According to ATOR, 3.3 million Russian tourists visited Turkey in 2014; while data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) suggest that 4.5 million Russian vacationed in Turkey the same year.

The high increase in Russian tourist flow this year exceeded the figures from 2015, coming close to the 2014 record level.

Russia plays an important role in Turkey's tourism sector as the country leads the list of foreign visitors coming to the country.

Provisional data from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism showed this month that Russian tourists regained their leading position after two years of decline due to a diplomatic tension between the two countries, which emerged after the downing of a Russian jet for violating the borders of Turkish airspace in November 2015.