Village to be converted into ‘valley of lavenders’

ISPARTA

With an aim to attract more tourists to the southern province of Isparta’s Kuyucak village, which is famous for its lavender flowers, the Turkish Agriculture and Forestry will plant over 1 million lavender seeds this year to turn it into a “valley of lavenders.”

“We will plant 1.2 million new lavenders. We will establish a valley of lavenders here,” Refik Ulusoy, the provincial forestry head, told the state-run Anadolu Agency on July 25.

The village witnessed a tourism boom in 2018 and 2019. In 2019 alone, some 1 million local tourists visited Kuyucak, which gained popularity on social media and became an alternate tourism hotspot amid the pandemic.

“The tourism revenue of the village in 2019 was 10 million Turkish Liras [$1.1 million]. We await everybody across the country to visit our purple village,” said Gürol Yılmaz, the local head of the village.

Now, the local forestry officials are waiting for the fall season for the new plantation.

“The valleys and the hills of the village will be full of lavenders after planting new seeds,” Ulusoy noted.

Tourists are also fond of the “purple village.”

“The view is fantastic, and there is the smell of lavender in the air,” said Gizem Bulut Gökçe, a local tourist who came to Kuyucak from the Black Sea province of Kastamonu.