NYT Promotes Tourism in Tajikistan

Last week The New York Times published an article by Andy Isaacson who related his interesting and detailed observations from touring Tajikistan, focusing especially on the Pamir Mountains, the “Roof of the World.” I am sure every Tajik citizen will take pride when reading it. For example:

“East meeting West, North meeting South: since time immemorial, the Wakhan Valley, in the Pamir Mountains, has existed at the intersection of trails trodden by nomads, peddlers, pilgrims and, at times, the soldiers and emissaries of great powers. When I’d thought about traveling to see this rugged branch of the ancient Silk Road, it had seemed like an adventure to the far-flung periphery of the world. Now, as I looked around the market, taking the long view of history, it felt more like the center.”

Certainly, we learn much from the perspectives of foreigners regarding our nation’s history and culture which initially make us glad, but remind us after some though that we, the Easterners, have noticeably fallen behind from Westerners in science, technology, world influence, etc. It is while just 10 centuries ago our civilization was the most advanced, influential, and dynamic in practically all vital fields and regions of the world.

However, the point at the moment is to emphasize the importance of further developing tourism in Tajikistan which to some extent is already being done for us by foreigners free of charge. I can argue that even by promoting solely the tourism sector, our country can attract huge capital and thus, improve its economy and standard of living. Countries like Switzerland and Austria which closely resemble Tajikistan in terms of land and climate, earn significant profits from their tourism sector, so we can potentially achieve similar results by investing to development and promotion of tourism in our country as well.

Imagine that if instead of measly 15,000 tourists that visited last year, our country would attract 100,000 tourists a few years down the road. If every tourist roughly spent $3,000, we could possibly reap $300 million and provide well-paying jobs for tens of thousands of our unemployed citizens. In addition, developed tourism can help transform the country’s image from one as hope to migrants and cheap labor to one of a land of adventure at the Roof of the World.

Our great ancestors tell us that one finished job is better than ten incomplete ones. So, while our country lacks any major oil and gas reserves, which some might consider a weakness, perhaps we should instead dwell on strengths like our mountain tops, speedy rivers, and rich culture and history as our best bet in creating a better future for the nation.

This is the first post from Botur Kosimi, who also has personal blogs in English and Tajik.

This post was written by...

Botur_Kosimi – author of 2 posts on Registan.net.