Gaziantep's historical houses to attract tourists

Friday, July 18, 2008

Historical serving houses and settlements have been restored to become new tourist attractions in Gaziantep, a city known for its historical heritage and natural beauty located in the south of Turkey, with the help of Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality and some private companies

GAZİANTEP - Anatolia News Agency

Though there are already some boutique hotels in the Anatolian city of Gaziantep, a host of luxurious new accommodation options is currently under construction to remedy a shortage of high-quality facilities to accommodate the city's growing number of tourists. Current offerings such as Anatolian Houses, Ahmet Aga Mansion, Castle House, the Eblehan mansions and the Belkıs guesthouse are set to be dwarfed by Şirehan, the region's largest caravanserai, and an Ottoman Mansion in the Eyupoğlu district. The city already has two five-star, five four-star, seven three-star and 11 two-star hotels, along with one cottage and five boutique hotels, with a total 3,500-bed capacity, said Salih Efiloğlu, the director of the city's culture and tourism department.

Efiloğlu said the city's need would not be met even when the current construction is finished. “Gaziantep is a brand city, a rising star of Anatolia. The city's position in the field of industry and trade has been strengthened with the Southeastern Anatolian Project (GAP). Economic and social development brought health and business tourism sectors customers to town. It also influenced local gastronomy, culture and tourism.”

He said, however, that without the necessary physical infrastructure it is not possible for the city to become a real tourism center. In recent years he said international hotel chains have shown great interest in Gaziantep, which undergoing a process of urbanization. “This is an important development,” he added.

Eflioğlu noted that Gaziantep is a culture and tourism center. He said foreigners would prefer to stay in ancient cities like Rumkale, Yesemek, the Kargamış ruins and Zeugma if these places are available.

“Currently the occupancy rate is full in all hotels. We need to increase bed capacity as soon as possible. When the Fıvat River basin opens to tourism and construction finish there, promotional activities should be carried out well.”

Arguing that Gaziantep is an up and coming city, Efiloğlu said, “Hatay, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Mardin, Midyat and Hasankeyf are all well-known places. We don't compare them with Gaziantep. We see them as a whole in one region.”

“People do not only prefer to have sunny holidays by the sea but also a fill them with historical knowledge and relaxation. We would like to provide it in Gaziantep. The city has 5,000 years of history, which should be appraised, but unfortunately Gaziantep does not get its share in tourism sector. However we began to care about the treasures we have by renovating many historical monuments,” he added.

Eflioğlu said boutique hotels tend to be the most attractive to tourists. “Upon a research, we found out that people prefer to visit historical places. They care about historical richness. We are so lucky to have it all so we should evaluate it very carefully.”

At least 50 houses to be restored

To protect the historical and cultural heritage of the city it is necessary to conduct studies about how to restore the area's historical monuments using municipal government and European Union funds, said Mayor of Gaziantep Asım Güzelbey.

Noting that the city hopes to restore at least 50 Gaziantep houses, transforming them into restaurants, cafes or boutique hotels, Güzelbey said the city has already conducted a project to protect historical Antep houses. “To make those historical houses a tourist spot we expect everyone's contribution, from citizens to the small investors. If they buy these houses, we will help them in the process of renovations and project. Today between eight and 10 houses were made a tourist attraction and we want 50 of them in Gaziantep.”

Ömer Can, the mayor of Şahinbey, a district of Gaziantep province, said Şahinbey had been planning to build a park on 300,000 square meters of land in Karataş and that on 10,000 square meters of the park it would establish a hotel that reflects the architectural features of the city with the aim of boosting the tourism industry.

He said the restorations of Bayazhan and Göğüs and Dayı Ahmet Ağa Konağı have all been completed. “To protect the grain of the historical monuments we began a big study in the city,” he added.

Can explained that the district had changed its focus on building a classic hotel in favor of a boutique hotel, saying it is because it wanted diverse tourism investment that it had now decided to construct a boutique hotel using traditional Turkish houses as models. He added that the district was developing a boutique hotel project that would consist of 10 to 12 houses and would take historic houses throughout the country as inspiration.

A mansion from the Ottoman period that belonged to the special provincial administration is now under construction to become a boutique hotel. The biggest deficiency of Gaziantep is insufficient accommodation and lack of high-quality accommodation, both of which need to be remedied as soon as possible, said Abdulkadir Demir, general secretary of the special provincial administration.

“We constructed the mansion as a boutique hotel,” said Demir and added, “In the garden there is an additional building and we would like to make many activities in there. We plan to put here into service within this year.”

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