This year, Cappadocia is hosting a tourism festival with visitors from South Korea, Indonesia, the US and China. The region, which hosted 2.3 million visitors until July 2024, exceeded 2.8 million as of August and expects to reach the target of 5 million visitors by the end of the season.
The target is to reach 626 thousand passengers in the region’s iconic activities such as hot air ballooning. The increasing bed capacity in boutique, cave and stone hotels is increasing the interest in the region even more. The Culture Road Festival organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism attracts both local and foreign tourists; figured balloons brought from abroad and concerts of famous artists within the scope of the festival maximize the occupancy rate of Cappadocia in tourism.
NEVSEHIR (AA) – BEHÇET ALKAN –Hosting millions of tourists every year with its natural, historical and cultural values and tour activities, 2 million 922 thousand 485 local and foreign guests were hosted in the museums and historical sites of Cappadocia in 8 months.
The Cappadocia region, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, maintains its position among popular tourism centers with its rock-carved churches, monasteries and chapels, valleys covered with fairy chimneys, underground cities, hot air balloon tours, and tour activities organized with off-road vehicles, camels and horses.
According to information compiled by AA correspondent from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, museums and archaeological sites in Cappadocia were opened between January and August of this year. 2 million 922 thousand 485 people visited.
The region was visited by 153,309 visitors in January, 159,819 in February, 218,479 in March, 558,464 in April, 498,354 in May, 412,730 in June, 371,206 in July and 550,124 in August.
– “Most visitors are from South Korea”
TÜRSAB Domestic Tourism Specialization Vice President İsmail Sucu,He told AA correspondent that the number of tourists showing interest in the values of Cappadocia has increased from year to year.
Sucu noted that different tour activities and events are effective in local and foreign guests’ preference for the region, and said:
“This year, there has been great interest in Cappadocia, especially from South Korea, Indonesia, the USA and China. We are expecting 2 million 300 thousand visitors until July 2024, and more than 2 million 800 thousand in August. We will have reached our target of 5 million visitors by the end of the season. We will have reached our target of 626 thousand passengers in hot air ballooning in the Cappadocia region throughout the year. A serious bed capacity has been reached with the cave and stone hotels among the boutique hotels in our region, which increases the interest in the region. The Culture Road Festival organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism also attracted the attention of local and foreign tourists. Figured balloons came from abroad during the festival, and Cappadocia took on an interesting image with our balloons in the sector. In addition, the concerts of famous artists allowed us to reach a serious occupancy rate in tourism.”
Coşkun Kırtıl, the owner of an agency providing services to tourists in the region, emphasized that Cappadocia is an important brand value in terms of world tourism.
Stating that they host guests from many parts of the world in the region, Kırtıl said, “Since many civilizations have lived here, a great accumulation has occurred in terms of history, nature and culture. This provides serious gains for tourism in Turkey and our region. Cappadocia is an important tourism center worldwide. The number of visitors increases every year. This density enables the emergence of different tour activities. Cappadocia is not a place where there are small tour packages that can be visited in one or two days. As agencies, we express our opinion that a one-week trip should be made. Due to the demand for tours, activities such as balloons, off-road vehicles and mountain bikes have increased.”
Tourist Muammer SakHe said that fairy chimney formations and other geographical features are not found in the same density and width anywhere else in the world, and that this texture of the region attracts the attention of tourists.
