Göbeklitepe, located in Turkey's Şanlıurfa province, known as the "zero point of history" with its approximately 12,000-year-old history and included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, was visited by 781,000 people in 2025.
Korrekt.az reports, citing Turkish media, that when the archaeological site was opened to visitors in 2018, it received 70,000 tourists that year, despite ongoing construction work under a protective cover. Following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's declaration of 2019 as "Göbeklitepe Year," international interest in the monument increased, and the number of tourists reached 412,378 that year.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the flow of tourists decreased in 2020, and 197,912 people visited Göbeklitepe. In 2021, this figure rose to 567,453, and in 2022, a record of 850,000 tourists was recorded.
In 2023, the number of tourists dropped to 317,253 as a result of the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes and other natural disasters. Despite this, Göbeklitepe maintained its strategic importance for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and ranked among the most visited archaeological sites in Turkey in 2024 with 709,643 visitors.
In a statement to Aslan AA, the Director of the Şanlıurfa Culture and Tourism Directorate stated that the Stone Hills project, implemented by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, has made a significant contribution to the increase in visitor numbers. According to him, Göbeklitepe hosted 781,000 visitors in 2025, and when Karahantepe and other excavation sites are also considered, the total number of arrivals to the region exceeded 1 million.
The director noted that the main goal for 2026 is to surpass the 1 million visitor mark. It is stated that the hosting of TEKNOFEST in Şanlıurfa that year will provide a significant boost to this goal. He added that an annual increase of 20–25 percent in visitor numbers has been observed in recent years.
According to the information, the geography of tourists visiting Göbeklitepe is also expanding. An increase in visitors from the Far East, Europe, and America is particularly being recorded, which further strengthens the region's tourism potential.