Number Of Foreigners Visiting Turkey Up 14.8 %, Koc

ANTALYA - The number of foreigners visiting Turkey was up 14.8 percent in the first four months of this year, Turkish Culture & Tourism Minister Atilla Koc said on Tuesday.
"4.1 million foreigners preferred Turkey as a destination between January and April 2007," he noted during the inauguration of the OTI Tourism Festival in Mediterranean city of Antalya.
According to Koc, 31 percent of these tourists are from East European countries.
Noting that the number of Russians choosing Turkey as a tourist destination has been on the rise since 2003, Koc said that Russia ranks second following Germany.
Koc said that the year 2007 has been declared as "Russian Year of Culture".
"Initiatives have been launched to mark the year 2008 as the `Turkish Culture Year` in Russia," he added.
2,500 tourism employees from Turkey and 21 foreign countries are taking part in the festival which will last till May 17th.