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ISTANBUL, Dec 24 (Reuters) - The number of foreign visitors to Turkey rose 7.69 percent year-on-year in November to 1.268 million, the Culture and Tourism Ministry said on Wednesday.
Tourism is an important source of foreign currency for Turkey, which has a large current account deficit. In October the number of foreign visitors had grown 14.38 percent from a year earlier.
The number of foreign tourists in the first 11 months of the year rose 13.10 percent from a year earlier to 25.245 million.
In a country-by-country breakdown of November data, the largest number of visitors were from Germany who accounted for 18.20 percent of the total or 230,807 people, followed by Iran with 7.67 percent and Bulgaria with 7.12 percent.
Turkey's largest city Istanbul was the top point of entry for foreign visitors, drawing 39.66 percent of all arrivals, followed by the southern city of Antalya with 18.14 percent. (Reporting by Daren Butler; editing by Stephen Nisbet)