Page 426 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 5

Dalkic, Gulcin. Tuydes-Yaman, Hediye. Delaplace, Marie.

The number of tourists visiting Konya in Figure 5 showed a rapid increase in the number of
1
visitors between 2007 and 2016 (HSR service to Konya begun in 2009). However, there are
some fluctuations in the number of visitors in this period: In 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2016 years
decreases in the number of visitors have been registered.

The interview with the city Tourism Directorate revealed potential reasons as economic and
political situations. Moreover, after the application of Museum Card started in 2011, domestic
and foreign visitor data could not be recorded separately. However, when the numbers of
foreign tourists in the previous years were examined, it was seen that Konya had attracted
tourists from the Republic of China, followed by Japan, Iran, United States and Germany in turn
(Konya Provincial Culture and Tourism Directorate, 2017).

Figure 5. Number of Konya visitors by different years

*As Museum Card application was started in 2011, domestic and international visitor
data were not available after 2011.

Figure 6 shows the number of arrivals and stay overnights between 2011 and 2016, which
showed an increase in both total and domestic values. Even though HSR ridership has increased
between 2011 and 2014, decrease in the ridership was observed in 2015 and 2016. When the
monthly distribution visitors is examined for 2016 shown in Figure 7, it is seen that the number
of arrivals and stay overnights increased in March, August, October and December months.
At the beginning of October, there is an annual event called as “International Mystic Music
Festival” which attracts more domestic and foreign tourists. Also, Mevlana Sama Ceremonies
that are realized in every beginning of December could be a reason for the increase in the
number of visitors in December period. Even though, a relationship between HSR passenger
arrival and visitor numbers was not observed in the first half of the year, in the second half, it
seems that there is a parallel relationship between them.

1 The data included the number of tourists visiting museums and cultural places such as Mevlana Museum, Karatay Museum, etc.

424 360.revista de alta velocidad