Published on : Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Earlier, China has declared 2018 as “Turkey Tourism Year”. Cappadocia attracted more than 250,000 Chinese tourists in 2017, aiming to draw 500,000 this year.
The tourists in the city, which is part of UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage List, marvel at its outlandish landscape, enjoy horse riding, all-terrain vehicle and hot balloon tours.
They also take a special interest in Göreme Open-Air Museum, Paşabağ, Derinkuyu and Kaymaklı underground cities. Jiang Hong Ying from Guiyang, China told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they came to the region to take an advantage of the “Turkey Tourism Year.”
Noting Cappadocia’s unique natural sites, Hong Ying said that he had decided to come to Turkey after it was recommended by our president. I am very happy to have come here and seen this place. The view here is amazing.
Liu Dan, from Changsha, China, said she wanted to come to Cappadocia for a long time and was happy to be finally here.
It is noted that Turkey welcomed around 5.1 million tourists in the first three months of this year – an all-time high – with an increase of around 35-36 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
Kurtulmuş had also said that 2018 will see last year’s $26 billion tourism revenue reach $32 billion. He added that Turkey is looking to host 40 million tourists and expected this number to reach 50 million tourists and $50 billion in tourism revenues by 2023.
The country’s tourism revenue rose by more than 18.9 percent in 2017 as it hit $26.3 billion from $22.1 billion in the previous year, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute.
While the country hosted 36.8 million foreign tourists in 2014 and 36.3 million in 2015, the figure fell sharply to 25.3 million in 2016 but rose again to 32.4 million last year.
Tags: cappadocia, china, Turkey Tourism Year