Mardin, which is a historical town in southeastern Turkey, is overbooked for the coming tourism season. The hotels are reported to be fully booked and the municipality is directing visitors to guest houses and local homes.
Mardin is known as the pearl of Mesopotamia where peoples of different religions, languages and cultures lived together fraternally. Recently the city has been more than popular among foreign tourists visiting Turkey and accommodation facilities in the town are simply not enough to meet the exploding demand. In April and May the municipality has found a solution by directing guests to guest house and local homes.
The mayor of the Mardin who gave an interview regarding the issue said:
“The current peaceful atmosphere has already started to bring positive results. Our hotels with 6 thousand 500 bed capacity are fully booked until the end of May. The security forces are in total control after successful operations in some of the settlement units in the region. The peace that was established following operations by security forces have been a major factor in the increase in the number of guests visiting the region. Previously, we used to receive tourists in September and October, April and May but now these visits are spreading to the whole year".
As for the rate of increase the mayor stated that an increase of 300 percent was in question as compared to the period when terror acts were experienced in the region. He also pointed out that from 2017, new hotels in Midyat and Artuklu districts had started to open and added “We are expecting to host everybody in our fairytale city".
