Public parks attract 39 mln visitors in 8 months in Türkiye

ANKARA

The nation's protected nature and national parks, which are a sight to behold with their lush foliage, welcomed around 38.9 million visitors between January and August this year.

A total of 29.5 million people — 10.1 million in June, 9.7 million in July, and 9.6 million in August — paid a visit to the country’s national and nature parks during the summer in an attempt to take a cooling break from this summer’s scorching heat.

This figure marked a significant rise in visitor numbers compared to the same period last year, which stood at 27.7 million.

Marmaris National Park in the southwestern province of Muğla emerged as the protected area with the highest number of tourists during these eight months, having hosted approximately 8.2 million visitors.

Following the southwestern city, Beydağları Coastal National Park in the southern province of Antalya ranked second with some 5.4 million visitors. Coming in third place, Beyşehir Lake National Park in the central Anatolian province of Konya hosted 2.4 million visitors during this 8-month period.

Nature conservation teams meticulously conduct conservation initiatives across the country’s 49 national parks, 267 nature parks, 31 nature conservation areas and 111 nature monuments.

An ongoing endeavor also aims to designate areas that possess an unparalleled historical and cultural character blended with unspoiled natural formations as "national parks" across the nation.

Authorities unveiled the “Kağıthane Hasdal Nature Park” in Istanbul this year, while the status of “Akdağ Nature Park” in Afyonkarahisar was converted to “Akdağ National Park” amid meticulous efforts to make progress on the matter.