Istanbul had its best ever year for tourism in 2011, with most of the tourists coming from Germany, according to official figures released on Wednesday.
The total number of foreign tourists visiting Istanbul reached 8 million in 2011, official data said.
According to a statement released by the Istanbul Culture and Tourism Department, number of foreign tourists visiting Istanbul surpassed eight million.
In 2010, 6.9 million foreign tourists had visited Istanbul.
German travelers constituted the majority of foreign tourists visiting Istanbul in 2011. They were followed by Russians, Americans, Italians and French tourists.
The number of visitors from Arab countries grew the fastest with a 28.5 percent increase.
Visitors from Saudi Arabia increased the most with 71.3 percent, which was followed by Iraq with an increase of 64.7 percent, Kuwait, 61.5 percent and Lebanon, 40.7 percent.
The number of tourists from Japan, Spain and Israel visiting Istanbul in 2011 dropped compared to previous year.
