Over 7,400 people did paragliding in Fethiye during Eid al-Fitr: Official

MUĞLA

Some 7,421 people did paragliding in the Fethiye district of the Aegean province of Muğla during the nine-day-long Eid al-Fitr holiday covering June 1-9, the head of the Fethiye Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FTSO) has said.

“A total of 32,406 paragliding flights have been done so far this year. This number is approximately 5,000 more than the same period of last year. And during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, 7,421 people did paragliding,” Osman Çıralı told state-run Anadolu Agency.

Ölüdeniz, 8.5 kilometers south of Fethiye, is a well-known site for paragliding activities performed from Mt. Babadağ, which is a steep peak rising right next to the blue Mediterranean Sea. The gentle sea breeze provides ideal conditions to paraglide throughout the whole year.

Some 162,000 paragliding flights were done from the Babadağ Air Sports and Recreation Center in 2018, said Çıralı, adding that their target this year is to take this number to 200,000.

“I believe that we’ll achieve our target this year. Works regarding the cable car construction are continuing nonstop,” said Çıralı, referring to the cable car project which will carry visitors to the summit of Babadağ from the beach.

“We are planning to open the cable car in July 2020. The [paragliding] flights in Babadağ are gradually increasing every year,” he said.

The head of Ölüdeniz Paragliding Cooperative, Hüseyin Akçay has similarly said that they were very happy about the number of tourists coming to Fethiye this Eid al-Fitr.

“We had a good Eid al-Fitr. We have hosted holiday-makers from many provinces of Turkey in the air. The interest in paragliding is increasing every day. Local and foreign tourists who come to the region absolutely want to see Ölüdeniz from the sky. We are giving vacationers a time in the sky that they will never forget in their lives,” Akçay said.