Tourists from these countries dominate the popular resort. Poles off the podium

Antalya in Turkey is one of the favorite destinations of Poles chosen for an all-inclusive holiday. The resort is distinguished by its picturesque location, which offers a view of the sea and the snow-capped peaks of the Taurus Mountains. If we choose it, we will certainly hear from tour operators or local guides that this city guarantees 300 sunny days a year.

Even though it is October, the tourism industry has already summed up 2024 in the town that is the pillar of local tourism. The Turkish Association of Professional Hotel Managers (POYD) checked how many international guests stayed at local facilities.

Antalya is most often chosen by Russians

By October this year, 15 million international tourists visited Antalya. This means a seven percent increase compared to the same period in 2023. However, it was not Poles who visited this resort most often. It will not come as a surprise that the largest number of tourists were Russians – as many as 3.25 million of them came here.

Apart from them, they visited Antalya most often

• Germany (2.75 million),

• British (1.3 million),

• Poles (1.1 million).

Holidays in the European Union “through the back door”

In total, 56.7 million tourists from all over the world visited Turkey last year. The government of this country has set an ambitious goal of attracting 60 million international guests in 2024. And although the industry struggled this year with a decline in hotel occupancy in the high season (including due to inflation), it seems to be within reach.

The Russians will certainly play a significant role in this. Due to the Russian war in Ukraine that has been ongoing since 2022, tourists from this country will not fly directly to EU countries, and Turkey invariably welcomes them with open arms. The hotel industry sees “steady demand from Russian and German travelers.”

Moreover, Russian tourists find ways to relax on the French Côte d’Azur or in the sunny resorts of Italy and Spain. For this purpose, they apply for Schengen visas enabling them to travel within the EU. Issuing it by one country allows you to move around the entire zone. Last year, Italy granted the most visas to Russian applicants (134,309 approved visas with an approval rate of 93.58%). For Russians, the gateway to exploring Europe is Serbia, from which you can fly to Budapest.