MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/. Tourist flow from Russia to Turkey from January to October 2023 increased by 26% year-on-year to 5.8 mln trips, while Russia ranked first in terms of tourist flow to the country during this period, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) announced.

"Russia ranks first in terms of tourist flow to Turkey from January to October, with 5,838,203 visits (21% of total foreign tourist flow to Turkey this year). This figure is 26% higher than in January-October 2022, but 12.8% lower than in the same time in pre-COVID 2019," ATOR said. Germany came in second after Russia, and the United Kingdom came in third.

Antalya has always been the most popular Russian tourist destination in Turkey, with 3.3 mln Russians visiting between January and October 2023. This is 17.5% higher than the same period last year, but 38.7% lower than the first ten months of 2019.

By the end of October 2023, Russia had surpassed Germany in terms of tourist flow to Turkey. This month, 672,200 Russians visited the country, which is 12.5% fewer than in October 2022. The decline in visitor flows was described by ATOR as a result of the "high base" effect of October last year, which was induced by the announcement of partial mobilization in Russia. Russian visitor traffic declined by 15.1% in October 2019 compared to October 2018.