After a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck near the southeastern town of Gaziantep, killing tens of thousands of people, many tourists are worried about traveling to this country in the near future.
Over the years, Turkish tourism has always been hot with visitors, especially the capital Istanbul and Cappadocia.
However, after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck near the southeastern Turkish town of Gaziantep, many tourists are worried about traveling to this country in the near future.
What areas do earthquakes affect?
About 10 Turkish provinces affected by the earthquake were Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa. The 2,000-year-old old castle of Gaziantep, one of Gaziantep’s most popular tourist attractions, was severely damaged. Currently, with the cooperation of the Turkish authorities, UNESCO experts are working to put together an accurate inventory of the extent of damage to tourist destinations on the “World Heritage List”.
Are flights to Turkey cancelled?
At this time, international airlines are still operating flights to and from Turkey. But Turkish Airlines, Turkey’s national airline, has canceled hundreds of flights since the quake.
According to Turkish news agency Demirören News Agency, Adana, Hatay, Gazientep international airports and Ceyhan seaport have to be closed. Even so, the country’s main international airport, Istanbul, remains open.
How are visitors affected?
Most of the country’s top tourist attractions are located far from the earthquake’s site. The direct earthquake area is far from two popular tourist attractions, Antalya (nearly 600 km) and Istanbul (more than 850 km). Cappadocia, a popular destination for hot air ballooning, is also nearly 500km away. Therefore, visitors are often hardly affected seriously. Tours to these locations can still take place as usual.
As of now, there is no sign of any interruptions in travel to popular destinations in Turkey.
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However, according to international experts, tourists should still be on the lookout for the possibility of aftershocks. According to the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, tremors from the earthquake could be felt from Greenland.
Some countries such as the US and UK advise people to “avoid going to earthquake-affected areas”. Neither country, however, requires its citizens to avoid other unaffected areas of Turkey.
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