Pamukkale closes year with ‘good’ number of visitors

DENİZLİ

The beginning of this year was not good for Pamukkale in terms of the number of visitors due to the coronavirus, but 2021 is ending well for the western province.

Famous for its white travertines, ancient pool and the ancient city of Hierapolis, Pamukkale is on the UNESCO World Heritage List and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors under normal circumstances.

Having welcomed only 150,000 visitors in the first six months of the year, one of Turkey’s most important tourist attractions hosted another 1.1 million people from July to the end of the year.

Due to the closure of the Far-East Asian market, the cancellation of international flights and other restrictions, a total of 150,000 domestic and foreign tourists came to Pamukkale within six months in 2021. But after the roll out of anti-coronavirus vaccines and the partial relaxation of the measures, the number of visitors to Pamukkale started to increase.

The town was visited by 258,000 people in July and 277,000 people in August. In the last six months, 1.05 million visitors wandered on the travertines. Hosting 619,000 tourists last year due to the pandemic, Pamukkale hosted 1.2 million people this year.

Gazi Murat Şen, the president of Denizli Touristic Hoteliers and Operators Association (DENTUROD), stated that the visits exceeded their expectations at the end of this year in Pamukkale, where 2.6 million tourists visited in 2019.

“Pamukkale will close this year with nearly 1.2 million domestic and foreign visitors. We started hosting more tourists after June this year. Welcoming 1.05 visitors in a half-season period in approximately six months pleased the tourism professionals in our region. We are hopeful for the future. We expect this number of visitors to increase exponentially next year thanks to the vaccines and the opening of international travel in many countries. Along with its white travertines, Pamukkale is also mentioned with paragliding, balloon tourism, cultural, natural and health tourism. The region already hosts the most visitors after Istanbul’s Topkapı Palace. It will maintain this status,” he added.