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Although the first holidaymakers visited Alanya as early as the mid 1920’s you have to wait until after World War II and the discovery of Damlatas Cave before you can say that tourism really began.
In 1948 the harbour was under construction and by chance a cave with stalactites and stalagmites was discovered. It turned out that the cave had a healing effect on patients with asthma. After this, Turkish asthma patients flocked to Alanya. They also saw in Alanya its remarkable beauty and scenery. In subsequent years many returned again and again not only for treatment but also as holidaymakers.
At that time there were only two hotels in Alanya and the city was not at all prepared to house all these people. This meant that more and more small hotels and pensions quickly shot up. Soon foreign tourists started to come to Alanya. The first were from Germany, France and Australia.
Helped by government support in the shape of cheap loans and rents, tourism in Alanya started in earnest in 1983. At that time the town had around 5,000 beds. It was mainly German tourists who came but other nationalities were beginning to discover this attractive area. But as tourism flourished agriculture decreased. More and more orchards were destroyed to give way to large hotels and restaurants.
Because of the economical growth it did not take too long before people had adapted from agriculture to tourism. Today agriculture is minimal and has moved to the mountains and the more remote parts of Alanya.
This rapid change has unfortunately caused some problems with the infrastructure. Pollution has increased and many buildings are unattractive plain concrete blocks. The aim now is to overcome these problems and raise standards.
Today (figures from 2003), Alanya has a capacity of 120,000 beds. It is mostly Germans who visit the area closely followed by Russians, Dutch, Scandinavians, Britons, Israelis and East Europeans. The high season is from May till October. In 2003 more than 1,000,000 tourists came to Alanya, which gave the town an income of approximately 1,000,000,000 USD. All in all tourism has effectively put Alanya on the World map and its economy has developed very rapidly compared to many other Turkish towns of the same size.
In 1948 the harbour was under construction and by chance a cave with stalactites and stalagmites was discovered. It turned out that the cave had a healing effect on patients with asthma. After this, Turkish asthma patients flocked to Alanya. They also saw in Alanya its remarkable beauty and scenery. In subsequent years many returned again and again not only for treatment but also as holidaymakers.
At that time there were only two hotels in Alanya and the city was not at all prepared to house all these people. This meant that more and more small hotels and pensions quickly shot up. Soon foreign tourists started to come to Alanya. The first were from Germany, France and Australia.
Helped by government support in the shape of cheap loans and rents, tourism in Alanya started in earnest in 1983. At that time the town had around 5,000 beds. It was mainly German tourists who came but other nationalities were beginning to discover this attractive area. But as tourism flourished agriculture decreased. More and more orchards were destroyed to give way to large hotels and restaurants.
Because of the economical growth it did not take too long before people had adapted from agriculture to tourism. Today agriculture is minimal and has moved to the mountains and the more remote parts of Alanya.
This rapid change has unfortunately caused some problems with the infrastructure. Pollution has increased and many buildings are unattractive plain concrete blocks. The aim now is to overcome these problems and raise standards.
Today (figures from 2003), Alanya has a capacity of 120,000 beds. It is mostly Germans who visit the area closely followed by Russians, Dutch, Scandinavians, Britons, Israelis and East Europeans. The high season is from May till October. In 2003 more than 1,000,000 tourists came to Alanya, which gave the town an income of approximately 1,000,000,000 USD. All in all tourism has effectively put Alanya on the World map and its economy has developed very rapidly compared to many other Turkish towns of the same size.
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About Old and New Alanya Interview - Henk Borchers 
