Cappadocia breaks visitor record

NEVŞEHİR

The Cappadocia region has broken the visitor record with nearly 5 million local and foreign tourists in 2023 as one of the top tourism centers in Türkiye.

“There is an increase of approximately 21 percent during 2023 compared to 2022. This figure is the highest number of all time, a record,” said Nevşehir Mayor Ali Fidan.

In the Cappadocia region, Nevşehir, Ürgüp and Hacıbektaş Archaeology and Ethnography Museums, affiliated with the Culture and Tourism Ministry Karanlık, El Nazar and Gülşehir, Derinkuyu, Kaymaklı, Özkonak, Tatlarin and Mazı underground cities, Göreme Open Air Museum, Zelve Ruins, Gülşehir Open Palace Ruins, Hacıbektaş Veli Museum and Hacıbektaş Atatürk House were visited by 4,826,622 people in 2023. This is the highest number of visitors ever seen in Cappadocia.

“It is very pleasing to break the all-time visitor record in the Cappadocia region, which is known for its natural, cultural and historical values, employment opportunities and welfare share. Our biggest expectation is that the visitor number exceeds 5 million in 2024. I would like to thank our Culture and Tourism Ministry, the managers of tourism enterprises, tourism employees and our NGOs in tourism, who contributed to achieving this number,” Fidan said.

The Cappadocia Tourism Operators Association (KAPTİD) President Teyfik Ölmez stated that although the biggest earthquake of the century occurred in 2023, the tourism movement in the Cappadocia region was not bad, if not at the expected level.

“2023 was not bad in tourism, but some businesses may have been disappointed because our expectations were too high. Unfortunately, there were some problems. For example, we survived a devastating earthquake. Normally, people would plan their tours and buy their holidays in February, when the earthquake occurred. But we lost the first half of the season because it coincided with the time when they were going to buy their holidays. Activity started as of the second half of the season in August,” he said.

Stating that the facilities saw significant tourist activity from around the world in 2023, Ölmez said, “We received a lot of demand from Latin America, Mexico, Brazil, South America and Colombia markets. There were many South Koreans from the Asian market last year. Besides, there was Malaysia and Indonesia. We couldn't get exactly what we wanted from the Japanese market, but we are very hopeful for 2024. These days there is intense demand from the Chinese market. We expect it to increase by the end of this month thanks to the Chinese New Year. We have 21 flights per week. In addition to these, we believe that the Chinese state will increase its four aircraft to 25 per week. We are hopeful for 2024.”