Culture minister highlights Turkey's food tourism

By Duygu Yener and Ozcan Yildirim

ANKARA (AA) - Food tourism is big in Turkey because of the country’s rich cuisine that has influences from all over the world, Culture and Tourism Minister Nabi Avci said Tuesday.

In remarks made at Anadolu Agency's Editors’ Desk in Ankara, Avci said: "Turkey is not only made of sea, sand and the sun."

He said Turkey has a very rich food culture. "Turkish cuisine has emerged from a place where different civilizations and cultures have intersected. There are influences of Arab, Armenian, Greek, Macedonian, Bosniak, Russian and Turkmen cuisines," the minister said.

He said Arab tourists were most interested in the cuisine, while Japanese and Chinese tourists come to Turkey to explore the country’s archaeology and Indian tourists were popular for wedding tourism, especially in the coastal resort city of Antalya.

Turkey also has big potential in health, education, conference and thermal tourism, he added.

"We are ranked sixth place in the world and fourth in Europe only by our sea, sand and sun tourism.

"Now if we add these items and present them properly to the world, there is no reason for us to not be among first three countries for tourism," he added.