Ankara, May 24 (IANS): Foreign arrivals in Turkey surged by 225.6 per cent year-on-year to 2.57 million in April, as the country is trying to recover from the impact of Covid-19, according to figures from the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

The number of foreign visitors hosted in the January-April period this year increased by 172.51 per cent to 7.47 million compared to the same period last year, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying.

In April, the highest number of foreign visitors was from Germany, with 395,372 people, followed by Bulgaria and the UK, with 270,997 and 225,296 travellers, respectively.

Istanbul, Turkey's most populous city and a major tourist destination, attracted 37.9 per cent of all international visitors, while 25.7 per cent of them visited the southern Antalya province.

Turkey is rebounding in its crucial tourism sector as arrivals continue to gain pace, but the figures still fall behind the pre-pandemic level of April 2019, when it attracted 3.3 million foreign tourists, according to the official data.

Turkey's tourism revenue shrank by 70 per cent in 2020 after garnering a record high of $34.5 billion in revenue the previous year.

Turkey attracted a total of 30 million foreign tourists and achieved $24.5 billion in revenue in 2021.