450 thousand Russians visited Istanbul

Over 450 thousand tourists from Russia visited Istanbul, the main tourist city of Turkey, during 11 months of 2011. In total Istanbul tours from January to November were bought by 7.5 million people. Most tourists were Germans. More than 900 thousand German citizens visited the famous Turkish city.

In November Istanbul was visited by almost 600 thousand people. Compared with November 2010, the number of tourists increased by 15.2%. The number of tourists visiting Istanbul since the beginning of the year grew by 15.7%. Such data were provided by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey.

It should be noted that representatives of the Turkish tourism industry predicted growth of interest in Istanbul in 2011. The popularity of the city on the shores of the Bosphorus grew due to its current status. In 2011 Istanbul was declared the cultural capital of Europe. This status implies among other things, a huge number of cultural events that take place in theaters and museums of Istanbul.

Not only major Russian cities - Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also increasing tourist flow from other parts of the country provided Istanbul with greater number of visitors. Several new routes are being developed today in order to simplify the journey from the Russian regions to Istanbul. In particular, in the near future will be introduced new direct Turkish Airlines flight, which will connect Istanbul and Novosibirsk.

Growing demand for Istanbul will likely to continue in 2012. After the cultural capital of Europe, Istanbul will immediately receive a new status - the European Sport Capital 2012, which the city won from the Belgian Antwerp and British Cardiff.