The UNESCO city of Safranbolu broke visitor records in the first six months of the year

The historic district of Safranbolu, with a population of 68,000, holds titles such as "Fingerprint of the Ottoman Empire," "Open Air Museum," "Self-Protecting City," and "One of the Best Preserved 20 Cities." The district, famous for its inns, baths, mosques, fountains, bridges, and mansions from the Ottoman era, broke visitor records in the first six months of the year. During Ramadan Bayram, it hosted 1 million 873 thousand visitors, and during Eid al-Adha, it welcomed 1 million 225 thousand visitors. In the other months, it accommodated 90 thousand overnight visitors, reaching a total of 3 million 188 thousand visitors.

The countries that visit the historic district the most include Taiwan, China, Thailand, the United States, Japan, South Korea, India, Germany, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Şebnem Urgancıoğlu, President of the Safranbolu Tourism Operators Association, told İhlas News Agency (İHA) that they achieved their annual target in six months because this period included both Ramadan and Eid al-Adha. She stated, “We think that approximately 1.5 million people visited the city during Ramadan Bayram. During Eid al-Adha, the number of vehicle entries reached 302,789. Therefore, we believe that 2.5 million people visited our city just during the holiday periods. Of course, we had different types of guests for day trips and overnight stays.”

Urgancıoğlu noted a 30% increase in domestic overnight visitors and an 80% increase in foreign visitors over six months, adding, “This makes us happy because the good performance of international tourism and the decline in some hotels in the Aegean region reflected positively on our city. We hope that with similar numbers in the last six months, we will talk about a record year for Safranbolu by the end of the year.”

She also mentioned that autumn is a very popular period for Safranbolu and expressed confidence that 2024 will end with record-breaking numbers.