Istanbul Tourism Statistics

Istanbul sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, and the numbers reflect it. Each year, tens of millions of foreign visitors pass through its airports and seaports, making it one of the most-visited cities on the planet.

Foreign visitor entries to Istanbul reached a new record in 2025, continuing a multi-year growth streak that began after the pandemic-era collapse in 2020.

• Istanbul recorded 18.97 million foreign visitor entries in 2025, a +2% increase over 2024.
• The city welcomed 18.58 million foreign visitors in 2024, surpassing the previous record of 17.37 million set in 2023.
• The pre-pandemic benchmark stood at 14.91 million visitors in 2019. By 2022, Istanbul had already surpassed that level, reaching 16.02 million.
• Foreign visitor entries collapsed to 5 million in 2020, a -66% drop from 2019. Recovery was rapid: entries rebounded to 9.03 million in 2021, and by 2022 the city was above its pre-pandemic peak.
• Across the 2014–2025 period, Istanbul averaged approximately 13.13 million foreign visitor entries per year.
• On a daily average basis, Istanbul received approximately 51,980 foreign visitors per day in 2025 and 50,770 per day in 2024.

Note: Figures are border-gate entries by foreign nationals at Istanbul Airport, Sabiha Gökçen Airport and seaports. Domestic travelers are excluded.

Russia is the single largest source of foreign visitors to Istanbul, accounting for more than 1 in 10 arrivals in 2025, with Germany and the United States filling the next positions.

• Russia sent 2.02 million visitors to Istanbul in 2025, representing 10.7% of all foreign entries.
• Germany ranked second with 1.52 million visitors (8% share), followed by the United States with 1.06 million (5.6%) in 2025.
• Iran (910,996), the United Kingdom (758,573) and France (672,999) completed the top six source markets in 2025.
• The top 10 source countries together accounted for 9.06 million visitors, or 47.8% of Istanbul's total foreign entries in 2025.
• Russia again led monthly entries with an 11.3% share in January 2026, followed by Germany (6.8%) and Iran (4.8%).

Istanbul serves as Turkey's single largest tourism gateway, consistently accounting for more than a third of all foreign visitor entries recorded nationally.

• Istanbul's 18.97 million foreign entries represented 36% of Turkey's national total of 52.78 million in 2025.
• Istanbul's share was 35.3% of Turkey's total 52.63 million foreign entries in 2024.

Before the pandemic, Istanbul's three most popular historical sites collectively drew approximately 6.96 million visits per year. Hagia Sophia alone accounted for more than half that total.

• The Hagia Sophia Museum recorded 3.77 million visitors in 2019, making it by far the most visited attraction in the city that year.
• Topkapi Palace Museum drew 2.72 million visitors in 2019, ranking second among Istanbul's major cultural sites.
• The Istanbul Archaeology Museums recorded 469,539 visits in 2019, dropping sharply to 127,301 in 2020 due to pandemic-related closures and restrictions.
• Hagia Sophia recorded only 471,868 visitors in 2020, significantly affected by its re-designation and institutional transfer on 10 July 2020.
• The Galata Tower Museum (newly opened in the series) led the available attraction data with 751,793 visitors in 2021. The listed attractions with available data reached a combined 965,764 in 2021, though this excludes Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace due to data gaps.

Turkey's outbound travel has grown well beyond its pre-pandemic level, with both trip volume and total spending reaching new highs in 2025.

• Outbound trips from Turkey reached 11.9 million in 2025, up +4% from 2024 and +23% above the 2019 pre-pandemic level of 9.65 million.
• Total outbound spending reached $9.6 billion in 2025, more than double the $4.4 billion recorded in 2019.
• Average spend per traveller rose to $807 in 2025, compared to $456 in 2019, reflecting both inflation and a shift toward higher-spend destinations.
• Outbound trip volume continued to rise in 2024, reaching 11.39 million, while total spending was $7.74 billion and average spend per traveller was $680.