By Tuba Sahin</p> <p>ANKARA (AA) – The number of foreigners visiting Turkey rose 5.3 percent year-on-year in January, the Culture and Tourism Ministry announced on Thursday.</p> <p>Official figures showed that more than 1.5 million foreign visitors entered the country over the course of the month.</p> <p>Istanbul, Turkey's largest city by population and a top tourist draw, attracted nearly 60 percent of all visitors — nearly 919,000 — in the first month of the year. </p> <p>The northwestern province of Edirne, which borders both Bulgaria and Greece, welcomed the second-highest number of foreigners — over 190,000 — in January.</p> <p>It was followed by Turkey's Black Sea province of Artvin, bordering Georgia, with nearly 119,000 foreign visitors. </p> <p>Bulgarians made up almost 9 percent of foreign visitors, followed by Georgians at 7.3 percent, and German citizens at 6.6 percent.</p> <p>Official data also showed air was the most popular way for foreign visitors to reach Turkey, with 1.1 million foreign travelers flying in, while over 408,000 used roadways.</p> <p>Last year, some 39.5 million foreigners entered the country, up from 32.4 million in 2017.</p> <p>
