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Russia and Germany remained Türkiye's two biggest sources of foreign visitors in the first eight months of 2026, even as overall international arrivals slipped slightly from a year earlier, according to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Türkiye welcomed 34.8 million foreign visitors between January and August, down 1.84% from 35.5 million during the same period last year.
Russia held on to the top spot with 4.7 million visitors, followed by Germany with 4.4 million and the United Kingdom with 2.7 million. Iran and Bulgaria rounded out the five largest source markets.
While arrivals from Russia rose 3.59% year on year, visitor numbers from Germany fell 0.2%, those from the United Kingdom dropped 9.6%, and arrivals from Iran declined 1.7%.
The overall market showed little movement in August alone, when nearly 7 million foreign visitors entered Türkiye, representing a marginal 0.03% decrease from the same month of 2025.
Russia again ranked first with just over 1 million visitors during the month, followed by Germany with 982,353 and the United Kingdom with 590,898. Iran and Poland also made up part of the five largest markets in August.
Istanbul accounted for the largest share of foreign visitor entries between January and August, receiving nearly 12.5 million people, or 35.82% of the total.
Antalya followed with about 10.3 million visitors and a 29.52% share, while Edirne, Mugla and Izmir also ranked among the main entry points.
The picture shifted during the peak summer month of August, when Antalya moved into first place with more than 2.5 million foreign visitor entries, accounting for 36.24% of the month's total. Istanbul followed with 1.9 million, ahead of Mugla, Edirne and Izmir.
Flying remained by far the dominant way for international visitors to enter Türkiye.
Of the 34.8 million foreign visitors recorded in the first eight months, about 26.4 million arrived by air, giving aviation a 75.87% share.
Around 6.5 million entered by road and 1.8 million by sea, while only 37,023 arrived by train.
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When foreign visitors are counted together with Turkish citizens residing either in Türkiye or abroad, total visitor entries reached nearly 51.5 million between January and August.
While the number of foreign visitors fell 1.84%, entries by Turkish citizens rose 8.13% to nearly 16.7 million.
Rail travel recorded one of the sharpest increases among citizen entries, climbing 52.77% from a year earlier to more than 93,000.
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