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Turkey to lure archeology enthusiasts in 2011

We may only be in the first week of the new year, but archeological tours to various parts of Turkey for 2011 have already started.

The Temple of Apollo One of these is a 21-day tour that begins in İstanbul and continues through 16 provinces, during which tourists visit the Temple of Apollo and the ancient cities of Selge, Perge, Letoon, Xanthos, Seleukeia and Side, an old city that is gaining in popularity.

Denise Allen, archeologist and archeology tourism expert for Andante Travels, said that in 2010 alone they had taken 38,000 tourists from Europe with a passion for history, culture, arts and archaeology on a tour of Anatolia.

Noting that they began their Anatolia tours in 2007 when they took 6,255 English, German, French, Danish, Scottish and Norwegian tourists interested in archeology tourism around Anatolia, Allen said generally European intellectuals, fans of fine arts and health field workers, including dentists, veterinarians and doctors, take part in the 21-day program. The average cost of a 21-day program is around 4,200 Euros.

Acknowledging that archeology tourism is pricey, Allen said: “Generally people from Britain, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Scotland show interest in our archeological tours. Turkey is like an open-air museum for Europeans who love archeological tourism. Archeological tourism has slowly started to develop in Turkey.”

Allen noted that even though Anatolia has a rich historical legacy, the number of museums in Anatolia is extremely small compared to European countries. She noted that their goal for 2011 is to increase the number of tourists who go on archeology tours to 50,000.

Abdulkadir Uçar, the mayor of Side -- a town located in the province of Antalya whose history dates back to the seventh century B.C. -- explained that aside from being a resort destination because of its sea, sand and sun, Side is also one of the few historical cities that have made names for themselves in archeological tourism.

Noting they promoted Side’s archeological wealth during the WTM London Tourism Fair held a few months ago, Uçar said the Temple of Apollo was illustrated in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s advertisements of the city.

Uçar explained the most important part of tours to Side is its archeological wealth and noted that their aim for 2011 is to make the city well-known place for archeological tourism.

He noted they will increase the number of museums to five to be able to put more historical remains on display. The current Side Museum has 11,815 historical artifacts on display, of which 9,690 are coins.

Source: Today’s Zaman [January 07, 2011]