Arabs prefer visiting Istanbul during Ramadan

ISTANBUL- The number of Arab tourists who visited Istanbul rose 20 percent in 2011 compared to the Ramadan before last year.

Figures are expected to reach the same levels this year too.

In order to overcome the calmness during Ramadan, the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency's events in 2010 and in 2011 the 'Ramadan Istanbul' and 'Ramadan in Istanbul' drew great attentions in the previous years.

According to figures taken from the Istanbul Culture and Tourism Directorate the number of Arab tourists visiting Turkey rose 20 percent compared to 2010. Same is expected for this year.

In Ramadan 2010 more than 50 thousand Arabs visited Istanbul and last year this number went up to 62 thousand during Ramadan.

In the first six months of 2012, the number of tourists who visited Istanbul increased 71.2 percent compared to the same period of the year before.

In the first half of 2011, more than 346 thousand visitors came to Istanbul and this year the number reached 593 thousand.

In the first half of 2012, mainly German, Russian, American, French, English and Iranian tourists visited Istanbul.

Director of Istanbul Culture and Tourism Directorate, Ahmet Emre Bilgili told AA that in the first six months of 2012, they received high number of tourists visiting Istanbul.