Shafaq News /Turkey’s tourism industry, a key pillar of the economy, is struggling to reach visitors and revenue targets due to the Sanctions and the Corona virus pandemic.

The Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry revealed, today, Friday, the 2020 data (till November 2020) showing that Turkey hosted 14,486,632 foreign visitors.

Among those who visited Turkey in 2020, The Russians topped the list with 2,038,380 visitors, followed by the Bulgarians with 1,140,739, then the Germans with 1,071,782.

Tourism is a major source of income for Turkey. It suffered a downturn in 2016-2017 after a coup attempt and a dispute with Russia, but returned to more than 40 million tourists last year.

In 2019, Turkey attracted a record number of visitors with 51.9 million people, the country's annual tourism revenue hit $34.5 billion — a historical high —, according to Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

The average Euro/US dollar exchange rate was 1.11 in 2019.

The Turkish Lira losses so far this year 23 % of its value, it weakened to about 7.6 against the dollar.