Edirne grew lavenders, which turned the fields purple and allowed the city to promote ecotourism. While the city’s Lavender Field Days attracted a lot of attention, Gökhan Balta, the Turkish Hoteliers Association’s Edirne Representative, reported that with the lavender flowering, hundreds of tourists from the neighbouring provinces poured to the city, leaving no empty rooms in the hotels.
Lavender is a valuable crop for growers, with the weight of its oil selling for up to 100 euros. It was initially cultivated seven years ago by the Thrace Agricultural Research Institute in Edirne. Lavender, whose purple blooms dyed the city purple, drew attention to itself and turned the locations where it was grown into a natural studio.
The fields have also spurred ecotourism in the city, since they have become a new magnet for photographers. Due to the Lavender Field Days, which will be held for the sixth time on June 16-19 this year, many people from the surrounding provinces, as well as neighbouring Greece and Bulgaria, are expected to flock to Edirne, which hosts the most tourists after Istanbul and Antalya.
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Lavender has begun to be planted more regularly in the region, according to Gokhan Balta, Edirne Representative of the Turkish Hoteliers Association, due to its aromatic character and tourism appeal. According to Balta,
“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.”