Culture and Tourism Ministry

Organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) for the 27th time this year, the "Istanbul Jazz Festival" will meet music enthusiasts between June 27 and July 14.
The festival, which will host over 300 local and foreign artists, will be held in 27 different venues of Istanbul.

The St. Paul Church, St. Paul's Well and surrounding historical quarters in the southern province of Mersin's Tarsus district are among the most important faith tourism attractions in the city and draw the interest of Christians worldwide.

According to data gathered by state-run Anadolu Agency, some 53,736 domestic and foreign tourists visited the area in 2019.

The hotel occupancy rate across Turkey reached 61.9 percent in January, up 6.4 percent from the same month last year, a hotel association said.

According to the Destination Performance Report prepared by the data company STR for the Turkish Hotel Association (TÜROB), the average hotel room price also soared to 68 euros (nearly $73.7) with an annual increase of 8.9 percent.

The number of foreigners visiting Turkey jumped 16.11 percent on a yearly basis in January, the country's Culture and Tourism Ministry said on Feb. 24.

Almost 1.8 million foreign visitors entered the country last month, the ministry data showed.

Istanbul continued to be Turkey's top tourist draw, attracting nearly 57 percent of all visitors - around 1 million.

Ancient tombs unearthed in the Büyük Göztepe Tumulus in the northern province of Karabük's Safranbolu district, famous for its historical houses, on the UNESCO World Heritage List, will contribute to tourism.

The ancient city of Hadrianopolis, estimated to have been used as a settlement area in late Hellenistic, Rome and early Byzantine times, will become an archeological site.

Located at some three kilometers east of Turkey's Black Sea province of Karabük, the site is also called "Zeugma of the Black Sea," due to its similarity with Zeugma mosaics in southeastern province of Gaziantep.

Istanbul's Hagia Sophia Museum remained Turkey's most visited tourist attraction in 2019, according to data released by the Culture and Tourism Ministry. (Alamy Photo)

The hotel occupancy rate across Turkey reached 67.6 percent in 2019, up 2.4 percent from the previous year, a hotel association said.

The sector's revenue per available room (RevPAR) and average daily rate (ADR) for rooms hit the three-year high in 2019, the Turkish Hotel Association (TÜROB) reported.

The archaeological excavations initiated in Istanbul district of Kadıköy's Haydarpaşa Railway Station about two years ago are continuing.

Numerous historical buildings, coins and skeletons in the giant port city under the rails shed light on Istanbul's Anatolian history.

The Culture and Tourism Ministry has launched an investigation into the suicide of an archeologist, Merve Kaçmış, employed at the world-known Zeugma Museum in the southeastern province of Gaziantep.

It is claimed that she was exposed to workplace bullying after rejecting to take the responsibility of about 100 unregistered artifacts.