Number Of Foreign Tourists Visiting Turkey In March Increases By 55 Percent

ANKARA - Number of foreign tourists visiting Turkey in March of 2004 increased by 55 percent over to the same period of last year.
Releasing a statement on Saturday, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said that number of foreign tourists visiting Turkey in March of 2004 increased 55 percent to 777 thousand 982.
Meanwhile, number of foreign tourists visiting Turkey in the January-March period of 2004 rose 43 percent to 1 million 919 thousand 530.
In March of 2003, 499 thousand 663 foreign tourists came to Turkey. In January-March period of 2003, number of foreign tourists visiting Turkey was announced as 1 million 344 thousand 898.
Name of leading provinces and rates of increase in number of foreign tourists visiting these provinces in the first three months of last year are as follows:
Provinces Number of tourists rate of increase (percent)
--------- ------------------ --------------------------
Istanbul 630.962 37
Antalya 476.704 43
Edirne 391.427 40.2
Izmir 52.126 60
Ankara 46.353 94.4

(UK-MS) 04.04.2004