Nearly 478,000 visit Cappadocia in a month

Some 477,757 people have visited Cappadocia, the historical region in Central Anatolia famous for its fairy chimneys, in May this year, a number nearly eight times higher than the same month the previous year, the Governor's Office of the province of Nevşehir has announced.

"In May 2021, the number of the visitors was 61,634," said the office in a statement on June 7.

The office listed the most visited sites of Cappadocia during the mentioned period: Ürgüp Museum, Hacıbektaş Archaeology Museum, Gülşehir St. Hean Church, Derinkuyu, Kaymaklı, Özkonak, Göreme, Zelve and Hacıbektaş Atatürk House.

Cappadocia, which means "the land of the beautiful horses," is a picturesque wonder located across six provinces, including Nevşehir.

The region is a popular tourist destination with unique geological, historical and cultural features.

Meanwhile, local tourism officials in the Aegean province of Denizli declared the number of visitors to Pamukkale, another landscape of Turkey, known for its travertine terraces.

"Some 431,083 people came to see Pamukkale in the first five months of this year. The number was 127,870 in the forementioned period of last year," Demirören News Agency reported on June 7, quoting local officials.

The most significant difference in numbers has been seen this May with some 190,200 tourists. The number was just 38,378 in May 2021.

The data showed that the city will reach the two million tourists target this year, said Gazi Murat Şen, the head of Denizli Touristic Hotel Owners Association.

Reminding of the Ukraine War, Şen added, "We have a huge demand from European tourists to Pamukkale. If the war did not exist, we could have reached the tourists numbers of 2019, before the pandemic."