Settlement Process Brings More Tourists To Eastern Turkey

The number of tourists that visited provinces in eastern and southeastern Turkey during 2013, increased by more than 500,000 people year-on-year, a development that is likely to have been a result of the settlement process launched by the government in 2012 to resolve the country's decades-old Kurdish issue, a recent report by an association of tourists agents indicated.

The number of domestic and foreign visitors to the eastern and southeastern regions of the country in 2012 was 1.5 million. This figure surpassed 2 million in 2013 according to the “Settlement Process and Regional Tourism Report” by the Turkish Association of Travel Agents (TÜRSAB).

Commenting on the report, TÜRSAB Chairman Başaran Ulusoy underlined that tourism is a sector that could enliven the region's economy. He added that the steps taken over the last few years to keep the peace have been successful, showing the real potential of the eastern provinces. Ulusoy also mentioned the the association's 2023 target is to attract 5 million tourists to the region.

According to TÜRSAB's report, 605,000 tourists visited Şanlıurfa province in 2013, 351,000 visited Mardin province and 230,000 visited Diyarbakır, as the most visited cities in eastern parts of Turkey last year. It was also highlighted in the report that touristic tours through the region had only been organized from İstanbul; however, the number of tours that start in Ankara and İzmir provinces enjoyed a great increase after the settlement process, as did those starting from Adana, Gaziantep and Mersin provinces.

The report also mentioned that tourism activity increased in post-conflict areas around the world after a kind of settlement process. Giving concrete examples the report says, tourism revenues of Northern Ireland have surged by more than 20 times since 1997 and Israel hit its record in the number of incoming tourists in 2013 while it plumbed the depths in the 2000s. Spain also ranked 4th in the world's most visited tourism destinations list after its reconciliation in the country, the report added.

Apart from a period in early 2012, when the settlement process was started, the report indicates uses flight statistics from 2007 to illustrate the boom in tourism in the region. According to the report, the number of passengers flying to eastern provinces, including domestic and international arrivals, has increased by 179 percent during those seven years and risen to 11 million. The number, according to the estimates of TÜRSAB, is expected to reach 20 million at the end of this year.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)