The fair, which was held with the intense participation of national and international tourism actors, also played a major role in promoting the cultural, historical and natural beauties of Turkey's seven regions to the world. Pioneering cities that are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in cultural tourism came together under the umbrella of the 15th Travel Turkey Izmir Tourism Fair.
The 2022th Travel Turkey İzmir Tourism Fair, which draws the roadmap of 15 tourism by bringing together the world tourism trends in İzmir, left the first day behind. The fair, which hosted 500 exhibitors and visitors from over 58 countries, attracted great interest. Participation in the fair, where participation was made at the level of the ministry and the governor, was also attended by an intense protocol consisting of mayors, heads of chambers, unions and non-governmental organizations. Highlighting Turkey's values, many destinations included in the UNESCO World Heritage List with their historical, cultural and natural beauties made a strong participation in the fair with their local values. The destinations that participated in the 15th Travel Turkey Izmir Tourism Fair with their local governments, public and private sector representatives, and the leading hotels and investment agencies of the regions received full marks from the visitors. In addition to summer tourism, the fair enables the discovery of historical, cultural and natural beauties in seven regions of Turkey; With its alternative tourism types, it showed the whole world that the country has a four-season tourism potential. Destinations that participated in the 15th Travel Turkey İzmir Fair with all their richness showed that cities come to the fore more than countries in new tourism trends.
At the fair, which brings together all the riches of the seven regions of Turkey under one roof; Adana, Burdur, Balikesir, Edirne, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Karabuk, Konya, Kütahya, Trabzon, Kastamonu, Amasya, Hatay, Elazig, Canakkale, Bursa, Sinop, Diyarbakir, Afyon, Nevsehir, Zonguldak, Antalya, Aydin, Balikesir, Participation in Istanbul, Muğla, İzmir and Şanlıurfa; attracted attention by both domestic and foreign visitors. The fair increased the brand value of all participating cities.
Edirne Mayor Recep Gurkan: 'It's nice to be in İzmir again. My dear friend Tunç SoyerWe are there without question in everything that 's does. He does very accurate and high value-added work. Izmir is already a world-renowned city and the capital and pearl of the Aegean. With this Tunç Soyer It opens a new horizon for Izmir. I find this very valuable. We are the guests of honor this year, very proud. Edirne is the second city in the world after Florence in terms of the number of historical monuments per square meter. A city with 3200 registered works on an area of 1400 acres. It has 8300 years of history. It has hosted many civilizations throughout history. It was a city for the Eastern Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. The gate of the Balkans to Turkey, Turkey's gateway to the Balkans. Therefore, it is the meeting point of cultures in terms of cultural, sociological, artistic and, of course, gastronomy. While you're eating something in Edirne, you don't just eat Turkish food. It is a city where Greek, Bulgarian, Albanian, Macedonian, Bosnian cultures and identities are so blended. "When you visit Edirne, you actually visit the Balkans and the empires," he said.
Stating that he found the fair very successful, Gürkan said; “It is very important that it is the first organization after the pandemic. There is a very large participation. In line with the changing tourism understandings after the pandemic, the addition of the outdoor fair was very valuable. Tourism is starting to become singular. The fair answered this need. People now prefer individual tourism with more core groups. In 1902, Edirne Municipality Council had 12 members. 6 of them are Turkish, the rest are different countries. Turkey is the cradle of these civilizations, so is İzmir. Now we will all work together to achieve better things," he said. Edirne Mayor also introduced the golden belt to İZFAŞ General Manager Canan Karaosmanoğlu Buyer. Gürkan said, “I present the golden belt given to the wrestlers of the 650-year-old Kırkpınar tradition to Canan Hanım, the chief wrestler of the fair organization tradition.”
Levent Ak, Infrastructure Service Manager of Cappadocia Tourism Region: 'We come from a unique region, one of the most important regions of the world, home to many civilizations. It is also identified with the Aegean Region. We have been attending the fair for years. It is one of the leading cities in cultural tourism in destinations in Turkey. We see Travel Turkey İzmir as an important fair in Turkey. We think that it is absolutely necessary to attend fairs. There should be fairs to diversify the promotion. People want to meet and build mutual trust. We know that people gain a lot at the meeting point. In order to reflect our local products and beauties, we are doing serious studies in our Cappadocia region on how we can make tourism for 12 months and how we can bring quality tourists. It is also a brand in cultural tourism. We receive tourists from all over the world. We receive tourists from everywhere, starting from Japan to Latin America. We bring Kaya City to tourism in our Nevşehir region. An old center of life, the city. It emerged with the rock formation. Ürgüp Fairy Chimneys, Göreme Open Air Museum, underground cities, Acı Lake and Hacı Bektaş Veli all our districts have different characteristics with their volcanic features. Kayaşehir was also included in tourism and Nevşehir became a tourism city as a whole,' he said.
Levent Ak said that they have started to integrate into winter tourism as well: “We have established the second geopark in Turkey after Kula. We established the Cappadocia geopark. The concept of geopark is a new promotion and protection tool. The first Manisa Kula Salihli geopark in Turkey made it a priority. We are the second. Today, the World Tourism Organization declared 75 villages in Madrid, the capital of Spain, the best tourism village in the world, with the participation of 176 countries. He just announced it and you're the first to hear it. Today, 2 villages in Turkey entered the World Tourism Village list. One of them is Mustafa Pasha Village of Ürgüp district of Nevşehir, and the other is Taraklı district in Adapazarı. It's called Best Village Tourism.
The cities, which are on the UNESCO cultural heritage list and highlight the historical and geographical features of their regions, received full marks from the fair visitors. We need to support and share these projects as a tool that introduces the tourism potential to the world with its historical, cultural and natural beauties. We wouldn't be able to talk about these things without the fair," he said.
İsmail Oskay, Head of Antalya City History and Promotion Department: “It is a fair that we attend every term. As Antalya, the capital of tourism, our participation in fairs is very important for us. Antalya; It is among the top 10 cities in the world in resort tourism, which we call sea, sand and sun. With accommodation and carrying capacity, we hosted 2019 and a half million tourists in 16. We expect more than 8 million tourists in October this year, and 9 and a half to 10 million by the end of December. Fairs are important to us because they are areas where we can directly touch people and meet people directly. The fair is very important with investors, visitors and various public institutions. Travel Turkey improves itself every year in terms of innovation and innovation. We visited the stands of the exhibitors and saw many innovations. I find these very important in terms of tourism, fair organization and promotion.”
Saying that Antalya has new tourism strategies, Oskay: “Our metropolitan mayor is leading the way. We are in competition with the world in resort tourism. Both in terms of quality, innovation and accommodation. Antalya has the capacity to host approximately 800 thousand tourists overnight. This requires infrastructure and superstructure. We are the first in Turkey in sports tourism, alternative tourism and historical sites to bring new added values to this country. We emphasize this aspect of Antalya. Antalya is a city with over a hundred ancient cities. We are in a position to compete with the world for bicycle tourism. We are working on rock climbing, rafting and parachuting. We also work on gastronomy and faith tourism. We tried to reflect some of these in our booth. Now, cities compete in the world, not countries. Participating in the fair is important for us in this respect. I hope it will be beneficial for all the participants and visitors, and it will provide a lot of profit.”
Diyarbakir Provincial Culture and Tourism Deputy Cemil Alp: Diyarbakir Provincial Culture and Tourism Deputy Cemil Alp stated that their cities were promoted worldwide with the Travel Turkey Izmir fair; “Diyarbakır, the most ancient city of Anatolia and Mesopotamia, is a city with a history of 12 years and bearing the traces of 500 civilizations. If Diyarbakir had not been conquered, neither Manzikert nor Istanbul would have been conquered. The conquest of Diyarbakir is the forerunner of Manzikert, the herald of Istanbul. It is a very rich place in terms of religious tourism. A geography where Alexander the Great stayed. Diyarbakir Malabadi Bridge is currently on the UNESCO tentative list. Diyarbakir's 33-year-old city walls are still standing and were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 5. There are Zerzevan Castle and Mithras Temple, which are still being excavated. Mithras temple had a visitor mass exceeding 2015 thousand in 2019. Diyarbakir's history, culture and gastronomy is very rich. It is an exemplary city in Turkey in terms of construction and architecture. Our aim at the fair is to introduce the beauties of Diyarbakır”.
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