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RF leads in number of tourists in Antalya resort – Turkish official

Russia leads the pack in terms of the number of tourists, who visit the Antalya resort, head of the Antalya department for culture

ANKARA, October 10 (Itar-Tass) — Russia leads the pack in terms of the number of tourists, who visit the Antalya resort, head of the Antalya department for culture and tourism Ibrahim Acar told Itar-Tass.

“According to our data as of the end of September, over 2,56 million Russian citizens arrived in Antalya, which is the most popular resort in Turkey. Till now Russia leads the pack and has the leg of Germany. The inflow of Russian tourists has increased by 10 percent this year as compared with the same period of last year,” Acar said.

At the same time, the Turkish official said he expected German tourists to have the lead in this statistics because they visit Turkey more actively in the autumn and the winter. “As a whole, we received about 9.5 million foreign tourists in nine months,” Acar stressed.

Commenting on the attitude towards Russian tourists in Turkey, Acar said he denied any possibility of any prejudices towards Russians. “We are very close. The leadership of our countries signed an agreement to annul visas. It is a landmark event,” he said.

In his words, about 10,000 Russian citizens live in Turkey under the resident permit. “We maintain permanent contacts with the Russian authorities and the consulate-general,” Acar stressed.