Izmir Metropolitan Mayor Tunç Soyer announced that they have started to prepare a comprehensive inventory of touristic attractions in Izmir for improving the alternative tourism potential.

The Mayor Soyer noted that they have documented thousands of alternative tourism spots visually and in writing and added: “In the mid-2020, the detailed studies will be completed and we will have an exact breakdown of all destinations such as cultural, archeological, natural and gastronomy related spots as well as abstract cultural heritages”.

The Mayor Soyer spoke at the “Alternative Tourism: Trends and Visions” panel organized by the United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia Regional Organization (UCLG-MEWA) during thematic session of Culture and Tourism committee and reported that they have initiated a tender for building a new congress center next to Fuar Izmir located in Gaziemir and they will build smaller congress centers in Foça and Çeşme to extend the holiday seasons in these towns.

Net Holding’s BOD Member, Tourism professional and Milliyet Columnist Reha Arar was the facilitator of this panel and Tourism lawyer İlker Ünsever shared his opinions about health tourism as well as Michele Rumiz, the Middle East and Balkans Officer of Slow Food Turkey, who talked about eco-tourism; Tourism Media Group CEO Volkan Ataman about congress tourism; Chef, Presenter and Writer Yeşim Kaya about gastronomy tourism and Zahra Golmohammadi, the Senior Planning and Programming Expert of Asian Mayors Forum, about urban tourism.