Visitor numbers plummet at İzmir museums, ancient sites amid Turkish tourism strife

The number of visitors to museums and ancient sites in the western Turkish province of İzmir, operated by the İzmir Provincial Culture and Tourism Directorate, decreased by 36.6 percent in the first seven months of 2016 compared to the same period last year. 

Revenues in the same term also fell to 6.4 million Turkish Liras, marking a 29.5 percent decrease.

According to the directorate’s data, 1.55 million tourists visited 19 museums and ancient sites across İzmir in the first seven months of 2015. This number fell to 979.877 in the same period in 2016. 

While the ancient city of Ephesus received the highest number of tourists in İzmir in the first seven months of 2016 at 525,555, the ancient city of Metroplis in the Torbalı district welcomed only 2,170 visitors. 

Turkey’s tourism sector has seen a sharp drop in visitors in recent months amid a series of terrorist attacks and diplomatic crises.