Tourists: Turkey is quite a safe place

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey has been going through hard times recently, but it does not seem to concern some of the tourists visiting the Cappadocia area – a location which hosts around 2.5 million visitors ever year. “Turkey is a magnificent country. Contrary to my expectation, I have not encountered a problem since I came here,” said Timmy Myers, an American first-time visitor to the central Anatolian region.

Myers said he had prejudged Turkey due to political issues before he visited. “Cappadocia is in touch with nature and is really safe. When I am back to America I will strongly recommend my friends visit here,” he says. Turkey ranked sixth among the world’s top destinations in terms of tourist numbers in 2014 according to the World Tourism Organization’s June 2015 report. However, it was recently listed as a potential target for violence, as there has been a string of deadly attacks on the country’s security forces since the July 20 Suruç suicide bombing in southeastern Turkey which killed 32 people.

Kuwaiti national Sharifa Habash said she visited Turkey every year, adding, “I love Turkey very much. Turkey is quite a safe place.” Liu Xiao and Yu Nan from China also praised the Turkish people. “People are so sincere here. We loved it here,” they said.

According to Mustafa Durmaz, an official from the Cappadocia Tourism Development Cooperation, there has been an increase in the number of the domestic and foreign visitors this year.

“Tourists can visit the area with peace of mind,” Durmaz said. However, according to Turkey’s Tourism Ministry, foreign arrivals were down in June. The ministry’s report said the number of foreigners arriving in Turkey in June 2015 was 4,123,109, a 4.89 percent decrease from the same month in the previous year.