The former Greek and Roman ancient city of Ephesus, near present-day Selcuk town of Izmir in western Turkey has received some 800,000 tourists in the first six months of 2014, generating revenue of over 4 million Turkish liras.
Culture and Tourism Director of İzmir Abdülaziz Ediz said, “Revenue from these historic sites is used to improve and restore the sites themselves”, adding the renovation of the Ephesus Museum in the town Selçuk, which has been going on for the past 18 months will be completed soon.
The acropolis of Pergamon- a major center of learning in the ancient world, located in the province of İzmir received 109,000 tourists in the first half of the year, raising the revenue received by museums in the area by 106 percent. Acropolis of Pergamon (Bergama) was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list in June.
The ancient city of Ephesus was added to UNESCO’s temporary list of world heritage sites in 2000. Mr. Ediz is hopeful to see Ephesus in UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2015.
