Antalya welcomed 5,574,375 foreign visitors by air in the first 6 months of 2026, according to airport data, as the Turkish resort city continued to draw strong summer demand.
June was the busiest month of the year so far, with 2,061,734 foreign passengers arriving at Antalya Airport alone. Tourism officials said they were still aiming for the sector’s 18 million visitor target for the full year, despite the year-on-year decline.
Figures from Antalya Airport Civil Administration showed that arrivals rose sharply as the summer season began, with traffic building month by month from January to June. The data also showed that Russia remained the city’s biggest source market, followed by Germany, the United Kingdom and Poland.
The total number of foreign air arrivals in the first half of the year was lower than in the same period last year, when Antalya received 6,135,244 international passengers. That represented a drop of about 9%.
Even so, sector representatives said they expected the pace to improve in July, August and September, when bookings are usually strongest. They said Antalya’s accommodation capacity, transport links and international profile could still help the destination meet its year-end target.
Russia sent 1,279,820 visitors to Antalya in the first half of the year, while Germany followed with 1,178,927. The UK provided 575,974 tourists and Poland 413,449, underlining the importance of European markets and Russia to the resort’s tourism performance.
Other major source markets included the Netherlands with 183,776 visitors, Ukraine with 150,915 and Kazakhstan with 132,205. Smaller but still significant numbers also arrived from Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Belarus, Denmark, Sweden, France, Slovakia, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary and Norway.
The monthly figures showed the scale of the summer rebound. Antalya received 228,700 foreign arrivals in January, 222,518 in February and 402,665 in March, before numbers climbed to 969,171 in April and 1,689,587 in May.
The June total of 2,061,734 marked the strongest month of the period and provided the biggest contribution to the half-year result. Tourism officials said the level of international traffic showed how quickly demand can rise once the high season starts.
Antalya remains one of the world’s best-known beach destinations and a key driver of Türkiye’s tourism industry. The city’s performance is closely watched each summer because it often gives an early indication of how the wider Mediterranean holiday market is behaving.
Industry figures suggested the second half of the year could determine whether Antalya reaches the 18 million target. They said the market may recover if bookings remain firm through the peak holiday months and if the city continues to attract travellers from its core European and Russian markets.
