Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and Izmir Foundation President Tunç Soyerintroduced the mobile application of the digital tourism infrastructure Visitİzmir at the Istanbul Congress Center. Stating that with Visitİzmir, İzmir is the first city in Turkey to complete its digital tourism infrastructure, Soyer said, “In this period when the pandemic is far from our lives, we will start again in many places. After this incredible 15-month experience, I recommend you to start the next summer with İzmir. I invite everyone who wants to start over with İzmir, to use Visitİzmir by downloading it to their mobile phones and to become an İzmir Ambassador.”
The Istanbul launch of VisitIzmir, which was implemented with the coordination of Izmir Foundation and the partnership of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, Izmir Development Agency and Sun Express, was held at the Istanbul Congress Center. President for the launch of Visitİzmir, which was opened to access with 30 categories covering 11 districts and more than 2 thousand 300 points. Tunç Soyer together with İzmir Provincial Culture and Tourism Provincial Director Murat Karacanta, SunExpress Turkey Sales Manager Ece Şenev, sector representatives and bureaucrats.
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and Izmir Foundation President Tunç SoyerHe said that they continue to work with the aim of increasing the welfare of the city. Soyer said, “At a time when tourism activity has come to a standstill, we have achieved many firsts in 2020 and 2021 to expand İzmir tourism. The preparatory work of Izmir's provincial tourism strategy coincided with the period when the Covid-19 pandemic started. In this process, we dreamed of a more resilient tourism sector with the understanding of 'Another tourism is possible'. This was the common dream of all institutions that shape İzmir tourism, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, Directorate of Culture and Tourism, tourism sector and civil society. The strategy document, which we published with the coordination of the Izmir Foundation, revealed a new road map that spreads Izmir tourism to 12 districts for 30 months and increases the amount of foreign currency left by each tourist at least twice compared to the country average. With this new strategy, we position İzmir not only as a coastal destination but also as a city at the forefront with its history, culture, nature and gastronomy. The digital tourism encyclopedia Visitİzmir, which is not found anywhere in Turkey, is therefore very important for us. In a period of 12 months, we collected all points of touristic attraction in Izmir in a single digital database and made all this data accessible to all users, wherever they are in the world.”
All information in one app
Stating that during the preparation process of the digital tourism infrastructure, with the financial support of the Izmir Development Agency and the work of more than 40 experts, information and visuals on more than 11 touristic spots under 2 different topics were brought together, Soyer said, “History and Culture, Nature, Faith, Intangibles. With this study, which was carried out under 11 different titles such as Cultural Heritage, Accommodation, Gastronomy, both detailed textual information and a visual and video pool were created about these points. A detailed study was carried out, including location information, contact information, and information on authorized institutions and organizations in the management of the points. From the last basket master from Bergama, Mustafa Pancar, to luxury hotels in Çeşme, from Yeşilova Tumulus, İzmir's first settlement dating back 8 years, to museums and art galleries or little-known nature areas and the creatures in these areas. information can be accessed through Visitİzmir.
“I invite everyone to become Ambassadors of Izmir”
Stating that every user will also have the “Friend of İzmir” tag when they become a member of Visitİzmir, Soyer said, “Every interaction, commenting, liking earns users points. Users who collect 8 points become 'Izmir Ambassador'. In the future, we will provide different advantages to our Izmir ambassadors. Discounts at hotels and restaurants are just a few of the things we have in mind. Thus, the main goal of our tourism strategy is; We have completed the backbone of our policy of spreading tourism to 500 months and 12 districts. With the Visitİzmir application, any traveler from anywhere in the world will be able to quickly access all kinds of information about accessing the tourism destination in the most remote corner of İzmir. There are very few cities in the world that have a city tourism application of this detail. It is a first in Turkey. For this reason, the study will contribute greatly to the emergence of İzmir as a different destination in the Mediterranean and around the world. In the period when the pandemic conditions disappear, our goal for İzmir is to host domestic and foreign tourists equal to the population of our city, that is, 30 million and more. In every step we take towards tourism, we derive our strength from our capacity to act jointly with all our stakeholders in the city. In this direction, we fully believe that Izmir tourism will reach its real potential in the coming period. I know that in this period when the pandemic is far from our lives, we will start again in many places, in many places. After this incredible 4-month experience, I recommend you to start the next summer with İzmir. I invite everyone who wants to start over with İzmir, to use Visitİzmir by downloading it to their mobile phones and to become an İzmir Ambassador.”
Award from Golden Spider to Visitİzmir
Visitİzmir application received its first award in the "Public Institution" category at the Golden Spider Competition, which is the independent web awards organization of Turkey. At the end of his speech, Soyer shared this news and said, "I congratulate all our stakeholders who contributed to this project that we brought to the city with the partnership of a city vision."
President Tunç SoyerIzmir Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Murat Karacanta thanked . Visitİzmir is the result of a unity”.
Fully native software
Visitİzmir, which is a city guide produced by İzmir Teknoloji (formerly ÜNİBEL), the software company of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, with local software, provides services both on the mobile application and on the website. All content of Visitİzmir can also be accessed on visitizmir.org website. The application, which can be downloaded free of charge from Google Play and the App Store, has two language options, Turkish and English.
Visitİzmir is a social media platform
The application, which includes information, photos and videos about more than 2 historical and touristic spots, guides those who want to explore the historical, cultural and natural riches of Izmir. It shows on the map how to reach these points with location information. It will be regularly updated by the experts of the subject and Visitİzmir users, and new information will be entered into the system.
Visitİzmir was also designed as a social media platform and promotion channel. With the application, users can comment on the touristic values of Izmir and share their ideas with other users. In addition, they can like their own tourism spots, add them to their favourites, and suggest brand new spots. Visitİzmir is constantly updated as an infrastructure that is constantly developing and growing in interaction, not a static software. Visitİzmir, which delivers the current events and innovations in the city to its users, also functions as the promotional channel of İzmir.
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