‘Cappadocia model’ to boost tourism in southeastern Turkey
Fatma Aksu – ADIYAMAN
“GAP Tour,” which comprises seven cities in Turkey’s southeast, will now be called “Mesopotamian Tour” to promote tourism, a marketing strategy inspired by the “Cappadocia Tour” in the Central Anatolian region, a top local tourism chief has said.
“Turkey’s southeastern provinces have been marketed with the wrong name of ‘GAP Tour’ for years,” Silkroad Development Agency (İKA) head Burhan Akyılmaz noted.
“GAP Tour” presents a tourism package covering trips to the southeastern provinces of Gaziantep, Adıyaman, Şanlıurfa, Mardin, Batman, Siirt and Diyarbakır.
“Those who do not know the region comprehended the ‘GAP Tour’ as a technical surveillance trip, where they thought they would visit lakes, dams, or infrastructure projects,” Akyılmaz said. He admitted that this was “completely a bad marketing of the region.”
“But now, we are promoting the region with a ‘Mesopotamian tour’ label instead,” he added.
Cappadocia, an ancient region located within six Central Anatolian provinces, is the root cause of this change.
“Nevşehir, Ürgüp, or Göreme may not mean a thing to anyone. But when you say ‘Cappadocia Tour,’ tourists and all travel agencies in the world know the region,” he said.
Following the same strategy, he said, “We did the same in Turkey’s southeast and started promoting all provinces under a ‘Mesopotamian Tour’ label.”
Operating under the coordination of the Industry and Technology Ministry, İKA carries out tourism activities in the southeastern province of Kilis, Gaziantep and Adıyaman. The headquarter of the agency is in Gaziantep.
Akyılmaz said the change of the name came into force last year with a protocol signed with the Culture and Tourism Ministry. “Travel agencies are becoming aware of the change slowly,” he added.
The province of Adıyaman and Mount Nemrut are the apples of İKA’s eye.
“Tourists come to Mount Nemrut, watch the sunrise or sunset and then leave. So, the tourism revenues stay low. We need to keep the tourists in the city and extend their stay with accommodation,” he expressed.
Mount Nemrut is a 2,134-meter-high mountain, notable for the summit where many large statues are erected around what is assumed to be a royal tomb from the first century B.C.
The site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
“People can perform water sports in Adıyaman, such as swimming or rafting,” Akyılmaz stated.
One of the other assets of the region is “gastronomy-tourism,” which he said he sees as a “rising star.”
When asked about the priority targets, Akyılmaz listed two of them. “Our aim is to increase the tourism revenue in Adıyaman through gastronomy tourism and the number of visitors to the province from 2 to 5 million.”
İKA is also working with sports clubs to commercialize the region. The Turkish Rowing Championship will be held in Adıyaman in the near future.
“We will host some 400 athletes in the city,” he said. “We also invited Turkish national football teams Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe [two Istanbul football giants] to make camps here.”
Mesopotamia is a historical region situated within the Tigris-Euphrates river system, including Turkey’s southeastern parts, present-day Iraq, Kuwait, parts of present-day Iran and Syria.
Cappadocia, which means the “land of the beautiful horses,” is a picturesque natural wonder with fairy chimneys.