Tourists who will choose Safranbolu district, famous for its historical mansions in Karabük, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, for their mid-term break, will spend time intertwined with history.
Preparations for the midterm holiday have been completed in the historical district, which includes inns, baths, mosques, fountains and bridges preserved in their original form from the Ottoman period to the present, as well as traditional houses built in the 18-20 centuries, generally three-storey, 6-8 rooms, designed and aesthetically shaped to suit the needs.
In the district, which is among the "20 best protected cities in the world", the mansions that were restored and converted into boutique hotels were preferred by visitors, and the occupancy rate in the hotels before the mid-term break reached 80 percent.
"Both the saffron harvest and the mid-term break added dynamism to Safranbolu"
Safranbolu Tourism Operators Association President Şebnem Urgancıoğlu Ergüder told the AA reporter that there is tourism activity in the district these days due to the saffron harvest.
Stating that an 80 percent occupancy rate has been reached in the facilities due to the mid-term holiday that will start tomorrow, Ergüder said, "This month, we are faced with the movement of the Chinese region in the Far East market. The movement started from there. Therefore, we expect significant activity in both the domestic and foreign markets during the break. This movement actually almost did not decrease due to the influence of the saffron harvest. "We will see this intensity together in the coming days."
Ergüder stated that harvests have become very popular in terms of tourism diversity in recent years and expressed the following opinions:
"We see how much added value we have created with the Saffron Festival, which we organized for the seventh time this year. We host guests from different countries for the saffron harvest. Saffron harvest is very valuable for foreigners both in mass tourism and in the individual market. Therefore, the saffron harvest period is a great added value for us. In the past, our season used to end around the end of October, but now the saffron harvest continues and the mid-term break has added dynamism to Safranbolu. "As we will host Far Eastern groups in the winter with the opening of the Chinese market, it will be a tourism movement that we will spread over 12 months in Safranbolu."