Nearly 4.7 million tourists have arrived in Turkey's Mediterranean province of Antalya via airway since the beginning of 2010.

A total of 931,719 tourists have landed at airports of Antalya between July 1-18, raising the number of tourists visiting the city via airway since the beginning of the year to 4,696,293, officials from the provincial directorate of culture and tourism said on Monday.

Such figures reflected a 5 percent monthly increase and a 14 percent annual rise, officials said.

The number of tourists that arrived in the city via airway during July 1-18 period was 888,499 in 2009 and 880,661 in 2008.

Moreover, Antalya had hosted a total of 4,412,420 tourists between January-July 2008, and 4,418,133 visitors between January-July 2009, officials noted.

This year's figures for the same period were the highest of the last 3 years, sources added.

Speaking to AA, Antalya's Provincial Director of Culture & Tourism Ibrahim Acar said 2010 was the "golden year" of tourism for his city.

Acar said Antalya maintained stability in tourism sector thanks to its occupancy rate reaching 100 percent.

AA