Comments on: NYT Promotes Tourism in Tajikistan

By: Kenyon

Kenyon — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:56:00 +0000

Tajikistan may be one to look out for in 2010 and 2011, not just tourism-wise but in its economy, generally. See, e.g., food processing article on Tajikistan in Caspian Business Journal – http://www.caspibiz.com/issues/

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 02:31:00 +0000

I’m just annoyed that they don’t have Cyrillic (at least not the edition I have). Not very useful if you’re trying to read signs, or if you’re most used to pronouncing words based on the Cyrillic, and not Latin, script

By: Ahad_Abdurahmon

Ahad_Abdurahmon — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:46:11 +0000

Botur, most of your examples, except one to be precise, have nothing to do with Tochiks and tourism in Tochikiston.
Anyways, good luck. I guess the best strategy should start with building a decent airport.

By: Christian B

Christian B — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 23:03:00 +0000

Last time I checked the US Embassy info it said that there was a plan to issue visas on arrival to US citizens, but that it never came through. Play it safe and show up with a visa.

By: Ian

Ian — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 03:02:13 +0000

I wouldn’t advise anyone to show up to the Dushanbe airport without arranging a visa in advance, even if the official line of the moment is that you can. These rules change constantly and often with little public notice, adding to the list of reasons why Tajikistan could do better at attracting tourists.

By: Botur Kosimi

Botur Kosimi — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:40:29 +0000

Ahad,

Not a big deal. Just go back to library and read some books on Medieval history, science, and literature to compare East, West and etc.

It is when Inb Sina (Avicenna) works such as “The Canon of Medicine” was used as a text-book in European universities of Montpellier and Louvain as late as 1650, when Al-Farabi (Alpharabius) philosophic writings such as “Al-Madina al-Fadila” were recognized as next step after Aristotle and Plato’s “Republic”, when Umar Khayam’s masterpieces such as “Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra” made him known as greatest mathematician before modern times who also, developed the world’s most precise calendar and in his eloquent and elegant Rubaiyats proved the heliocentric theory well before Copernicus, or when Al-Ghazali (Algazel) and Rumi’s school of Sufism were biggest influences in Islamic world and professed unity of all people’s and religions. Just to mention a few.

This is a period of advancement and worldwide achievements in all major fields of life started around 10 centuries ago in Tajik/Persian states of Samanids and Saffavids that I was referring to. There is no doubt that this region of the world was dominant power in science, trade, policy and development back in those not so distant times (compared to all history).

By: Botur Kosimi

Botur Kosimi — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:33:53 +0000

Yes, Michael. But it is certainly not enough since there are so many other countries and regions in the world that Tajikistan could potentially attract significant number of tourists from, including Iran, Arab states, China, Japan, developing South-East Asian countries and of course, Europe.

By: Botur Kosimi

Botur Kosimi — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:23:22 +0000

Christian,

Appreciate your notes on both ups and downs on tourism development in Tajikistan.

Definitely, there is a huge potential for tourism which can immensely benefit the country if only people in the government realize it and implement in proper way. Unfortunately, the country is still run by a bunch of undereducated and Soviet-mentality persons in authoritarian manner unable to conduct any real reforms for nation’s modernization and increased regional competitiveness.

Although, there have been efforts to simplify visa processing such as issuing visas on arrival at airport for some foreign nationals and reducing wait time for visa, there is still a whole lot to be done to make Tajikistan tourist-friendly destination.

By: Botur Kosimi

Botur Kosimi — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 00:55:51 +0000

The intent of the photo depicting a generic scene from Swiss Alps which was used in the original language post was to show Tajik readers how that country’s nature is similar to Tajikistan and what a good lesson on tourism development we could learn from them.

The caption for the photo that I included “Switzerland can be a good example for Tajikistan in becoming a top destination for tourism” would have saved some readers the burden of extra thinking, if published. Apologies.

Nevertheless, many thanks to Nathan for help with publishing it here.

By: AJK

AJK — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:54:49 +0000

da? An eempools buy is an eempools buy, either way.