Sümela Monastery visited by thousands in four months

TRABZON

Sümela Monastery, one of the most important tourism centers in Turkey, was visited by some 220,000 tourists in four months.

Sümela Monastery was closed in 2015 for a restoration process to eliminate danger caused by the rock masses around Karadağ Mountain. Restoration works have also been ongoing inside the historical monastery.

The first part of the rock-carved monastery located in Trabzon’s Maçka district opened to visitors on May 25 following a four-year-long comprehensive restoration and rock improvement work.

The restoration works had a cost of 40 billion Turkish Liras and the second stage of the works continue. The monastery is set to be completely opened in 2020.

It is expected that 300,000 more people will visit the monastery by the end of the year.

On the other hand, the number of tourists visiting Trabzon, which is one of the tourist attractions in the Black Sea region due to its 4,000-year-old history, culture and nature, reached 622,000 between January and September this year.

This figure is 55 percent higher than the figure of the same period last year. It is expected that it will reach 650,000-700,000 by the end of the year.

The city earned $313 million in revenue thanks to tourism this year.