Turkey and Van at the World Travel Market in London

There was a prominent display of Van and promotion of tourism to the region as part of the Turkey pavilion at the World Travel Market in London.

British run travel agency was promoting travel to eastern Turkey, as well as Armenia and Georgia. In their brochure, along others, they write about Armenian cultural heritage in the region, monasteries, Aghtamar and Lake Van, Mt Ararat etc.

I also picked up an official “Tourism Guide of Van” produced by the governorship of Van, in association with the Ministry of Tourism and Culture of Turkey. They repeated the word “heritage” quite a few times in their brochure, with the indication of various cultural influences, pictures of churches and khachkars ('cross-stone') but in contrast with the previous brochure, they failed to mention a single word about Armenian heritage there.

Read also: Charming Karabakh at the World Travel Market in London