Number Of Tourists Visiting Turkey Rises By 58.3 Percent In March

ANKARA - The number of tourists visiting Turkey rose by 58.3 percent in March 2004, Turkish State Institute of Statistics (SIS) announced on Monday.
According to figures of the numbers of arriving and departing visitors in March 2004, 783 thousand 761 tourists visited Turkey.
This number was 495 thousand 175 in March of 2003.
According to the statistics, 74.4 percent of arriving foreign tourists came to Turkey through seaway, 103.1 percent through railway, 56.2 percent through highway and 58.3 percent through airway in March 2004.
Germany ranked the first from where the most foreign tourists came to Turkey in March 2004 with 24.8 percent. Bulgaria followed Germany with 12.7 percent, Iran with 6 percent, Russia with 5 percent, the Netherlands with 4.6 percent and Greece with 4 percent.
The number of Turkish citizens arriving in Turkey in March 2004 was 469 thousand 162. This number was 340 thousand 850 in March 2003.
The number of departing foreign tourists was 728 thousand 094 and departing Turkish citizens was 457 thousand 486 in March 2004.
The number of departing foreign tourists rose by 47.3 percent in March 2004 while the rise in the number of departing Turkish tourists was 46.1 percent.
The number of foreigners arriving in Turkey between January and March 2003 rose by 44.2 percent from 1 million 335 thousand 641 to 1 million 925 thousand 434 when compared with the same period of the previous year.
The number of Turkish citizens arriving in Turkey rose by 44.6 percent from 1 million 7 thousand 129 to 1 million 425 thousand 865 in the same period.
(BRC-AY) 03.05.2004