Lavenders grew in Edirne, turning the fields purple and allowing the city to begin promoting ecotourism. While the city’s Lavender Field Days drew a lot of attention, Gökhan Balta, Edirne Representative of the Turkish Hoteliers Association, claimed that with the lavender flowering, hundreds of tourists from the surrounding provinces rushed to the city, leaving no empty rooms in the hotels.
Lavender, which was first cultivated seven years ago by the Thrace Agricultural Research Institute in Edirne, is a valuable crop for the grower, with the weight of its oil selling for up to 100 euros. Lavender, whose bloom painted the city purple, drew attention with its scent and transformed the areas where it was planted into a natural studio.
The fields, which have become the new hotspot for photographers, have also prompted ecotourism in the city. Many individuals from the surrounding provinces, as well as neighbouring Greece and Bulgaria, are expected to travel to Edirne, which hosts the most tourists after Istanbul and Antalya, owing to the Lavender Field Days, which will be hosted for the fifth time on June 16-19 this year.
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With its fragrance character and interest in tourism, Gokhan Balta, Edirne Representative of the Turkish Hoteliers Association, said lavender has begun to be planted more regularly in the region. Balta stated,
“It has started to be planted in a very large area. A festival is organized by the Directorate of Culture and Tourism and our non-governmental organizations in order to evaluate it in terms of tourism. Within the framework of this festival, very beautiful visuals are formed in the last week of June when the lavenders bloom. On the way to the elm there is a lavender garden organized by the Agricultural Research Institute. Apart from this, since there are over 600 acres of lavender cultivation throughout the province of Edirne, there are demands from those regions, there are those who want to visit these fields.”