Turkey
The impact of tourism on Turkey's Fairy Chimneys
Name: Ahmet Dasdeler
Age: 61 |
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Ahmet Dasdeler |
Until the 1970s all the families in this village used to live from farming. Each family would have a small plot of land and a few sheep and cows. The small farms provided enough food for the family to live, enough to make their own yogurt and enough to sell to other farmers to buy products that they didn't have. My family, for example, ran the town's flour mill and sold bread in order to buy the other goods we needed. We ran the mill in the same shop where today I sell carpets to the many tourists that walk through my door.
I remember the first French and Dutch arriving in the1970s, and then the rush came in the1980s. People from all over the world began arriving in Göreme. At that time, many people began to abandon their farms and started opening restaurants and shops. My family closed the flour mill and began selling carpets and other souvenirs. Life got much easier.
With more and more tourists arriving, Göreme began to change. Many fancy buildings were constructed and a number of the caves were renovated to accommodate the tourists. Due to the work done on the caves, they are actually in better condition today then they were in the past. The money that the town's people have made from tourism has been used to restore the old buildings. It is the same with the Open Air Museum . The money generated from tourism is providing a way to protect the surrounding landscape and cultural heritage.
The peak tourism season here is crazy, with hundreds of thousands of tourists each summer. The tourists come to walk through the valleys and canyons. Although the town is different, tourists see a very similar site to when I was a boy. There are fewer farms and fewer birds, but overall it is the same. I think the biggest change in Göreme has actually been the way the town's people interact with each other. We are all trying to make a living from the same industry, which means that we are more competitive. I think it this has had a negative impact on the way we treat our neighbours and the way we treat visitors.
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