Kemer

Kemer
Town
A view of the beach and marina of Kemer
Location of Kemer within Turkey
Kemer Location of Kemer within Turkey
Coordinates: 36°36′N 30°33′E / 36.600°N 30.550°E / 36.600; 30.550Coordinates: 36°36′N 30°33′E / 36.600°N 30.550°E / 36.600; 30.550
Country	Turkey
Region	Mediterranean
Province	Antalya
Government
• Mayor	Mustafa Gül (MHP)
Area
• District	467.75 km2 (180.60 sq mi)
Elevation	4 m (13 ft)
Population (2012)
• Urban	22,732
• District	41,268
• District density	88/km2 (230/sq mi)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	07x xx
Area code(s)	(0090)+ 242+814xxxx
Licence plate	07 K XXXX
Website	www.kemer.bel.tr

Kemer is a seaside resort and district of Antalya Province on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, 40 km (25 mi) west of the city of Antalya, on the Turkish Riviera.

Kemer is on the Gulf of Antalya, 53 km (33 mi) of sea coast with the skirts of the western Taurus Mountains behind. The coast has the typical Mediterranean hot, dry weather and warm sea. Until the early 1980s this was a quiet rural district but today the town of Kemer and coastal villages in the district play a very important part in tourism in Turkey.

Kemer was the ancient Greek city Idyros, member of the Lycian League, which after the Ottoman era was called Eski Köy (Old Village) until a 23 km (14 mi) long stone wall was built in 1916 - 1917 to channel the mountain stream water and protect the town from flooding, which until then had been a persistent problem. The name Kemer refers to those walls.

Until the 1960s there was no road connection and the district was accessible only by boat. Then a road was built and from the 1980s onwards this was followed by a great investment in infrastructure, planned by the state and funded by the World Bank, aimed at developing a large tourist industry.

The district has a population of 36,010 according to the 2010 census. The town itself has 20,785 inhabitants. Kemer has 4 municipalities (Beldibi, Çamyuva, Göynük, Tekirova) and 4 villages.

The population of the towns and villages (municipality names are embolded) are shown in the table below:

One of the major attractions of Kemer is its natural beauty; sea, mountains and pine forest combine in harmony. The shore from Beldibi to Tekirova consists of unspoilt beaches in bays of various sizes, mostly stoney rather than sand. With easy transportation, good communication and other municipal services Kemer has a large proportion of the hotel bed capacity of the Antalya region, and is a comfortable and peaceful holiday coast with internationally accepted reputation, attracting large numbers of visitors from countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, and in recent years predominantly families from Russia. Many of the visitors come as part of low-cost all-inclusive package deals but tourism is still the mainstay of the local economy. There are so many visitors that most shops in Kemer are set up to sell things like leather jackets to overseas visitors and trade in the euro as well as the Turkish lira.