Invest News DetailSabah - Türkiye’s financial capital Istanbul, a bustling metropolis with 12 million inhabitants, ranked among the world’s top tourist destinations in 2011, according to a Mastercard study. According to the Worldwide Index of Global Destination Cities by the payment processing company, Istanbul has the highest growth rate in the world in terms of visitor expenditures, estimated to be 30.1 percent for 2011. The city hosted its first international shopping festival last spring, the Istanbul Shopping Fest, which aimed to draw shoppers from surrounding countries. The number of Istanbul’s visitors is also expected to grow by 20.4 percent – third best growth rate in a list of 132 cities - over the last year, reaching 9.4 million. The city ranks 7th in expected tourist arrivals, leaving behind hotspots like New York, Roma, Dubai and Amsterdam. The income to be generated by the influx of tourists to Istanbul would be around USD 10 billion, the Index predicts.