ENTRY prices to some of Turkey’s popular historic attractions are to increase in the New Year – with some rising as high as 400 percent.
Despite experiencing a decline in the number of visitors heading through the entrance to some of the best historic sites on the globe, the Culture and Tourism Ministry will ring the changes from January 4, 2016.
Voices has learned that entry prices to Didim’s historic sites – such as Apollo Temple, Priene and Miletus – will remain unchanged.
Apollon Temple, Didim
However, other sites have not fared so well and the increases have caused consternation among some tourism experts.
Deniz Managers of Touristic Hotels and Enterprises Association President Gazi Murat Şen told Zaman the price hike will further decrease visitor numbers to the archeological sites, which are an important part of Turkey’s tourism sector.
Underlining that the price rise will automatically increase the prices for tour operators, Şen said it will negatively affect the sales of tourist group package tours.
He highlighted the entrance price increases for the Pamukkale travertine terraces and archeological sites. The ticket price to access the travertine terraces will be increase from TL25 to 35 TL and [this] will further decrease the number of visitors in 2016.”
According to the Culture and Tourism Ministry, the number of tourists who visited the museums and archeological sites in Antalya in the last 11 months decreased by nearly 30 percent. The highest loss of visitors was at St. Nicholas Church in Demre where the number of visitors fell from 375,000 in 2014 to 223,000 in 2015.
The number of visitors to access the ancient city of Myra also fell from 313,000 to 176,000 over the same period. While 103,000 visited the Perge archeological site in 2014, the number came down to 44,000 in 2015.
Top sites
According to the new price list by the Culture and Tourism Ministry for the archeological sites, entry to some of the museums and archeological sites are increased as follows:
Celsus Library, at Ephesus. (Image kindly reproduced by http://turkishtravelblog.com/)
Topkapı Palace Museum from 30TL to 40TL;
The harem at Topkapı Palace from 15TL to 25TL;
Hagia Sophia Museum from 30TL to 40TL;
Olympos from 5TL to 20TL;
Ephesus from 30TL to 40TL
Pammukale travertine terraces: 25TL to 35TL
Aydin sites
Meanwhile the below prices for archaeological sites and museums in the Aydin area will be effective from January 4:
The Priene Temple ruins: (Picture kindly reproduced by http://turkishtravelblog.com/)
Apollon Temple:10TL;
Miletus ruins: 10TL;
Miletus Museum: 5TL;
Priene ruins: 5TL;
Afrodisyas Museum and ruins: 15TL;
Karacasu Ethnographic Museum: Free;
Arkeoloji Müzesi: 8TL;
Yörük Ali Efe Evi Museum: Free
Etnografya Müzesi: Free
Nysa (Sultanhisar) ruins: 5TL
Alinda ruins: Free
Magnesia ruins: 5TL
Aydın Alabanda ruins: 5TL