Istanbul hosts 30 percent more Arab tourists

ISTANBUL (A.A) - January 31, 2012 - The number of Arab tourists visiting Turkey's Istanbul city increased 30 percent to 910,360 in 2011 when compared to 2010. Istanbul Culture & Tourism Directorate told AA on Tuesday that Istanbul hosted 6.4 million tourists in 2007, 7 million tourists in 2008, 7.5 million in 2009, 6.9 million in 2010, and 8 million tourists in 2011. 6.8 percent of those tourists, who visited Istanbul in 2007, was from Islamic geography. This rate was 7.6 percent in 2008, 9.3 percent in 2009, 10 percent in 2010, and 11 percent in 2011.