With the urge to spend the nine-day holiday in a relaxing natural environment, over 4.6 million people have visited the areas protected by the Nature Conservation and National Parks (DKMP) during the recent Eid holiday.
According to the statement made by the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry on Tuesday, the interest of people in the protected areas under the General Directorate of the DKMP is increasing day by day.
With protected areas offering the opportunity to engage in activities that preserve the balance between humanity and nature, people who wanted to spend more time in a fresh and relaxing environment flocked to protected areas and took advantage of the prolonged Eid holiday.
During the nine-day holiday, protected areas hosted a total of 4,601,672 people. Among the most visited places during this period was Antalya's Beydağları Coast National Park in the country's south with a total of 488,343 visitors.
Marmaris National Park in the southwestern Muğla province ranked second with 471,231 visitors.
The parks in the tourism hubs were followed by Ormanya Nature Park in the northwestern province of Kocaeli, which hosted some 362,864 visitors, Ayvalık Island Nature Park in Balıkesir with 357,944 visitors, and Beyşehir Lake National Park in central Konya province with 198,790 visitors.
According to Anadolu Agency (AA), the DKMP General Directorate oversees 48 national parks, 265 nature parks, 110 nature monuments, 31 nature protection areas, 105 wetlands and 85 wildlife development areas.
Last year, during the Eid al-Adha holiday, the protected areas hosted 4.09 million visitors.
Apart from the protected areas, the 1,857 forest parks within the body of the General Directorate of Forestry (OGM) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry were also flooded with visitors during the holiday.
In this context, the most visited place was Antalya City Forest Forest Park, welcoming approximately 95,000 people.
Especially after the pandemic, nature and outdoor activities became highly preferred among Turkish citizens.