1. Tourism in Central Asia
TDM 458
Ara Pachmayer

3. Overview
 The Stans - “stans” means land
 Formerly known as Soviet Central Asia
 Part of the USSR – except Afghanistan
 Population
 Largely Muslim with minority Russian population (in
attempts to Russify the region)
 Geography
 High mountainous region
 Lower flat plains

4. History
 Historical ties to the Arab and Ottoman empires
 Islamic
 Genghis Khan - unified the area in 1200’s
 Trading corridor
 Silk Road
 Many buildings from the era still standing and are
attractions
 European influence
 Russian colonization 1400 – 1900 – brought language
and cultural traditions
 USSR - 1917 - 1991
 CIS - Commonwealth of Independent States

5. 1990’s – today – After
Independence
 Economic and political instability after
independence
 Politically sensitive areas - Civil Wars, terrorist
cells
 Ethnic tensions with ethnic Russians
 Poorly developed infrastructure
 Kyrgyzstan is presently the most stable

6. Tourism Today
 Moscow to Beijing Railway
 Cultural Tourism
 Religious sites
 Traditional cultures
 Adventure Tourism – rock climbing,
mountaineering, river sports
 Winter Tourism
 Skiing, trekking
 Silk Road Tourism

7. WTO Silk Road Project

8. Tourism Today
 Problems for development
 Not much potential for mass tourism – perhaps niche
tourism though?
 Corruption, bribes standard, totalitarian governments
 Transportation issues
 Getting there – no direct flights to the region for the
most part
 Getting around - poor road conditions, links to other
destinations, some of the most dangerous roads in
the world
 Image issues - case of Kazakhstan (see textbook
highlight on the movie Borat) and negative reports
from tourists
 Visa and entry issues

9. Tourism Today
 Problems for development
 Lack of modern accommodations
 Entrance fees higher for tourists
 Language Barriers
 Relatively few speakers of other languages
 Languages spoken are difficult not widely taught
(Persian related though for some countries)
 Lack of qualified tourism service providers
 Source markets for tourism
 VFR - so spend less money overall
 From former Soviet Republics
 Difficult to compete with most other destinations outside
the region

10. Case Study - Afghanistan
 Well developed tourism in the 1960’s and 1970’s
 90,000 tourists each year
 Many cultural attractions, Buddhist cultural sites, ancient
cities, mountain trekking
 Hippie Trail - came to an end 1978/79 with Islamic
Revolution in Iran and Russian Invasion of Afghanistan
 1978 - Communist Party take over
 Results in 10 year war with USSR
 “Never get involved in a land war in Asia”
 Afghanistan in disarray after USSR withdrawal
 Paved way for current instability

11. Afghanistan
 Today
 Expanding investment in tourism
 New Ministry of Tourism - to promote tourism
 Current poor relations with US as a result of alleged
harboring of Bin Laden

12. Afghanistan
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WInEoDRav
gI&feature=related
 Afghanistan: an unlikely tourist destination