Tourist numbers just in, kids take the hot seats, International Children’s Festival held in Fethiye and paragliders aim higher.

Tourist Numbers Up?

With the tourist season almost officially underway the powers that be in our provincial capital, Muğla, have already started releasing figures for numbers of tourists coming to the region. 

These figures are collected from passports stamped at Dalaman and Bodrum Airport together with those entering from the sea at any of the many ports in the province.

It seems this year up to 20 April a total of 70,627 people came to Muğla province compared with 74,588 for the same period in 2008.

However, the authorities’ optimism for the forthcoming season is based on the figure for entries from 1 – 20 April which is 45,183 compared to a mere 32,225 last year. 

Maybe Easter made a difference?

Kids Take Hot Seats

Meanwhile Children’s Day on 23rd April was marked by the Kaymakam, Mayor, Director of Education and Chief of Police in Fethiye letting children take over their jobs – if only for a very short time.

Tuğba Güven, an 11-year-old girl who found herself being Kaymakam, issued a press statement that said her major concerns were pollution in Fethiye Bay and traffic problems in the town itself. 

Meanwhile 11-year-old Sinem Donat from Günlükbaşı, who found herself in the Mayor’s seat, said her main concerns were around hygiene and security. 

Kids play or sound advice?

International Children’s Festival

In fact Fethiye seems keen on cornering the market in Children’s Day activities. 

For the second year running Gazi School organised an International Children’s Festival for which participants from 11 countries, a total of 517 kids, came to Fethiye. 

There were children from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Northern Cyprus, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Greece along with local Turkish children. 

They could easily have added British children to the list, wonder why they don’t? 

Anyway all the participants paraded through town on Wednesday in national costume, so if you saw such a parade, now you know what it was all about.

Sky High!

And in terms of tourism it was announced this week that last year almost 40,000 people parglided down from Babadağ – and this year their target is 100,000. 

We wish them luck!