Ahmet Emre Bilgili, culture and tourism director general of İstanbul, told the Anatolia news agency that the number of tourists visiting the city increased by 6 percent in 2009 over to last year.
"Our goal for 2010 is to attract 9-10 million tourists to the city," he said.
The programs that would be carried out by the İstanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency would make the city "a center of attraction", he said.
Bilgili said İstanbul would host several important events in 2010 like concert of famous band U2.
Turkey has attracted nearly 26 million tourists in the first 11 months of 2009. During January-November period, mostly German, Russian and British tourists preferred Turkey as a holiday destination and tourists mainly visited the Mediterranean region.
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