Istanbul targets to host 8 million tourists

A total of 5.9 million tourists visited Istanbul in the first ten months of 2010.

Turkey’s Istanbul metropolitan city targets to host 8 million tourists by the end of 2011.

Istanbul, which has an 8,500-year-old history, hosted 6.9 million tourists in the first ten months of 2011. This figure increased 16 percent when compared to the same period of 2010, Istanbul Culture & Tourism Director Ahmet Emre Bilgili told AA on Saturday.

He said, “although we have two months till end of 2011, the number of tourists who visited Istanbul is already higher than it was in the whole 2010.”

According to figures of the Directorate, Istanbul hosted 378,380 tourists in January, 431,481 in February, 556,113 in March, 694,959 in April, 729,860 in May, 773,092 in June, 916,486 in July, 737,020 in August, 862,482 in September and 833,466 in October, 2011.

A total of 5.9 million tourists visited Istanbul in the first ten months of 2010.

AA