Ankara Tourism Master Plan · 2025–2050
The Ankara Tourism Master Plan sets a quarter-century horizon: eighteen flagship projects, ten policy themes and staged visitor targets. This is the roadmap the city has drawn for itself — heritage routes, ecotourism destinations, a smart-tourism platform and a congress capital.
Mayor’s Vision for Tourism
“People must dream first. When we initiated the tourism transformation in Beypazarı, no one believed it at first, but it became a reality. Now, we are carrying that same historical and cultural renaissance across all of Ankara — transforming our capital into a world-class destination for heritage, health, and cultural tourism.”
Conservation and modern visitor infrastructure for the UNESCO-listed Phrygian capital: a modernised museum with digital archives and augmented reality, Phrygian-inspired boutique hotels, balloon tours and the wider Phrygian Archaeological Route.
Turning the battlefield around Polatlı’s Duatepe into a living open-air museum: large-scale historical re-enactments, sound-and-light shows, AR/VR experiences of critical moments and themed walking trails over the trench lines.
An integrated route across Ulus, the Castle and Hacı Bayram with multi-point visitor centres, restored heritage fabric, a local crafts bazaar and a self-financing capacity-managed operating model.
Ecotourism and wellness destination combining birdwatching towers for black vultures, guided flora-fauna treks, an open-air adventure park, modern camping and caravan grounds, eco-lodges in surrounding villages and geothermal spa facilities.
Restoring hans, mansions, mosques and bridges as “living museum houses” along the Ankara–Sakarya corridor, adding visitor centres, a Silk Road festival train and cycling routes, with a UNESCO Cultural Route application targeted for 2034–36.
Faithful restoration and 3D documentation of mosques and tombs, a pilot central route from Hacı Bayram to Kocatepe and Taceddin, multilingual QR-guided walking paths and district-level thematic faith sub-routes.
A single annual festival calendar for the whole province, a distinct thematic identity per district — film and literature in Çankaya, gastronomy in Yenimahalle, crafts in Beypazarı — coordinated by a dedicated festival board under a “Festival City” brand.
A research and experience centre near the Castle or Hamamönü documenting Seğmen tradition and Ankara cuisine: costume and archive halls, chef-led tasting kitchens, a research library, and joint academic programmes training young chefs and women’s cooperatives.
Mapping the province as an Ankara Gastronomy Route of district flavours, a chain of Seğmen Sofrası restaurants starting in Kale-Ulus, festivals and a geographical-indication products market, plus a mobile app with recipes, stories and event calendars.
A single GoAnkara card and app integrating buses, metro and suburban rail with museums and sites, discounts at certified businesses, accessible navigation with audio description, 360° virtual tours and gamified rewards — aiming to position Ankara as Türkiye’s first fully integrated smart tourism city.
Multilingual wayfinding at Esenboğa, ASTI modernisation, direct tourist services to the districts, rail packages on YHT lines, a tourist tram line (Ulus–Castle–Hamamönü) from 2035 and low-carbon, barrier-free connections to every attraction.
Leveraging capital status to attract international congresses and summits, branding Anfa Fair and ATO Congresium as venues, and growing scientific meeting and university festival tourism.
Rebranding the Kızılcahamam, Ayaş and Haymana thermal springs with modern facilities, positioning Ankara as a medical tourism brand city around its university and private hospitals, wellness programmes and an integrated hospital–hotel–transport chain.
Visitor-capacity management, renewable energy and waste separation at attractions, low-carbon transport and a maintenance-conservation fund to keep growth within ecological limits.
Certified local guiding programmes, tourism-awareness training for district staff, hospitality and language education, and youth volunteer pipelines across the sector.
Broadening the bed base from luxury and boutique hotels to student-oriented stays and camp-caravan sites, and strengthening food-and-beverage and entertainment offerings district by district.
A coherent city-brand strategy with targeted campaigns in Gulf, East Asian and European markets, presence at ITB, WTM and EMITT fairs, influencer partnerships and international sister-city cooperation.
Upgrading flagship green and leisure spaces — Harikalar Diyarı, Mogan and Eymir lakes, Göksu Park — into tourism-grade attraction centres with consistent standards across all districts.