ANKARA According to the statistics provided by the press office of Turkey's Ministry of Tourism for IRNA's Ankara bureau, over 83,000 Iranian tourists visited Turkey's various cities during the first four months of 2001.

The number of the Iranian tourists arriving Turkey during April, 2001, was 19,451, which was 16.94 percent less than the said period in 2000.

Also the number of the Iranian tourists arriving Turkey during the first four months of the current year shows a 3.56 percent decrease compared to the previous year, when 86,700 Iranian tourists visited Turkey.

Most of the Iranian tourists visiting Turkey went to Istanbul, the country's most touristic city.

Ankara, Ezmir, Turkey's port cities by the Mediterranean Sea, particularly Antolia and Bursa by the western side of the Marmara are among the other cities of Turkey often visited by the Iranian tourists.

Based on the same statistics, during the first four months of 2001, the total number of tourists who visited Turkey reached 2,145,447, which was 17.75 percent higher compared to the similar period of of 2000.

Turkey has gained a high status in the world tourism industry due to its excellent geographic conditions, the appropriate development of its tourism industry, having interesting historic monuments, no visa requirements for various countries and easy entrance formalities.

Tourism is among the highest sources of income in Turkey. Turkey gained over eight billion dollars from its tourism industry in 2000.

(IRNA)