People who believe Şirince village in İzmir’s Selçuk town will be a haven from destruction predicted to begin Dec. 21 by the Mayan calendar will flood the town during the Christmas holiday this year.
An international organization called the Blue Energy Group thinks only Şirince and a French village, Bugarach, will not be affected by havoc. This belief has made Şirince village, which is already a popular summer tourism destination with its authentic architectural structure, very popular this year for the Christmas holiday.
Members of the Blue Energy Group have reserved nearly all the accommodations in the village.
A tourism manager in the village, Engin Vatan, said the village had not received foreign guests between Dec. 15 and 31 in past years but this year was different. “Reservations have been continuing since the beginning of the year. We have never had foreign guests during the Christmas holiday, but this year we have guests from all around the world. Almost all the rooms in the village have been sold,” he said.
The residents of Şirince are also very pleased. A local man, İbrahim Kataç, said, “I wish such rumors always existed. Then more people and more customers would come to the village and trade would be revived here.”
(Hürriyet Daily News)
