Hot-air Balloon Tours Receive Increasing Demand in Cappadocia

Hot-air balloon tours in Turkey’s renowned tourist attraction of Cappadocia are receiving increasing demand, according to the chairman of one of the firms that organizes daily balloon tours in the region.

Tourists used to come to the area just to see the fairy chimneys, but are now coming solely to take a balloon tour, Abdullah Uluer, the chairman of Balloon Turca, recently told the Anatolia news agency, adding that balloons were fast becoming a symbol of the region, which is centered on the Central Anatolian province of Nevşehir.

“We pick passengers up from their hotels at 5 or 5:30 a.m. and take them to the area. The balloon takes off at around 6 a.m., and it rises up to 1,000 or 1,500 feet,” said Uluer. “Our passengers experience the unique opportunity of seeing the Cappadocia landscape at sunrise. The balloon slowly descends while flying over the valleys so the passengers can get a closer view of the fairy chimneys.”

According to data compiled by the news agency, the balloon tours were started by a firm 25 years ago for trial purposes. Currently, there are 16 firms organizing balloon tours in the region that can put a total of 71 balloons into the sky.

The capacity of the balloons varies from three to 36.

The balloon tours mostly draw foreign tourists and can vary in length from 45 minutes to one and a half hours. The average price for the tours varies between 100 and 200 euros.

The Cappadocia region is largely underlain by sedimentary rocks, as well as ignimbrite deposits left by ancient volcano eruptions during the late Miocene to Pliocene epochs approximately 3 million to 9 million years ago. The rocks of Cappadocia subsequently eroded into hundreds of spectacular pillars and minaret-like forms.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011
NEVŞEHİR – Anatolia News Agency