Eastern Black Sea hosts 3.9 million tourists in 10 months

A total of 3.87 million tourists came to the eastern Black Sea region in the first 10 months of the year. Tourists visited Trabzon the most among the region's provinces, as 1.5 million tourists visited the city. Tourists showed the least interest in the province of Artvin. The number of domestic and foreign tourists visiting Artvin was 200,000, followed by Gümüşhane with 607,000 and Giresun with 631,000 and Rize with 931,000.

The number of foreign tourists visiting Trabzon this year has increased compared to the previous year. While 2 million domestic and foreign tourists visited Trabzon last year, this number declined to 1.5 million in the first 10 months of this year.

The number of foreign tourists to Trabzon in 2017 was 465,600 in 2017 and 524,000 until October this year. Almost all the tourists were Arabs coming from the Gulf countries, followed by Iranians.

Uzungöl attracted the greatest interest in Trabzon, followed by the Atatürk Mansion and the Hagia Sophia mosque. Due to the three years of restoration work continuing at the Sümela Monastery, tourists instead visited the Ayavarvara Church, located just below the monastery.

While 631,000 domestic and foreign tourists have visited Giresun this year, Mavi Göl (Blue Lake) in the Dereli district attracted the greatest interest. A total of 400,000 domestic and foreign tourists visited Kuzalan Nature Park, including the Blue Lake, in the first 10 months.

While the number of tourists visiting Rize has increased dramatically in recent years, 930,966 tourists - 816,196 domestic and 114,770 foreign - visited tourism centers in the city the last 10 months from January to October. Tourists visited highlands such as Ayder, Gito, Pokut, Sal, Badara and Elevit, as well as the Fırtına Valley and Palovit and Ağaran waterfalls and thermal touristic facilities in the İkizdere district.

Volkan Kantarcı, the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies' (TÜRSAB) eastern Black Sea region representative council president, said that the season has been positive for tourism professionals, adding, "Generally speaking, the 2018 season has been positive. However, it could be better in terms of the domestic market. When we look at the number of foreign tourists, we have exceeded the 450,000 last year. We will exceed 600,000 by the end of this year. This is a positive situation. If we look at the entire year, we have increased the numbers and obtained more in revenue."