More than 363,000 foreign tourists have visited Tajikistan over the first six months of this year, which is 2.9 times more compared to the same period last year, Tojiddin Jourazoda, the head of the Tourism Development Committee under the Government of Tajikistan, told reporters in Dushanbe on July 28.  

Jourazoda predicts that this figure may exceed 600,000 before the end of the year.  

Tourism is considered one of the sectors, which are hoped to promote further development of the national economy.  However, tourism receipts-to-GDP ratio remains very low.  Due to the coronavirus pandemic this ratio fell in 2019 to 0.3 percent, and in 2021, it rose 1.3 percent.  

The Tourism Development Committee notes that there is possibility this year to raise last year’s ratio.  

As it had been reported earlier, each tourist leaves approximately 500 U.S. dollars in Tajikistan, but Jourazoda noted  that it is impossible to tell the exact figure now.  

According to him, they are currently together with the World Tourism Organization are conducting a survey of local and foreign tourists.   

“According to the survey’s findings, it will be possible to find out how much each tourist spends during the travel to Tajikistan,” Tourism Development Committee top manager noted.  

Five problems facing tourists in Tajikistan 

Speaking at the news conference, Tojiddin Jourazoda also listed five main problems currently facing foreign tourists in Tajikistan:   

-           The first problem the problem foreign tourists are asking to solve is associated with the arrival of guests in Dushanbe.  The space of infrastructure of Dushanbe airport seems too small to them.-           Lack of information about Tajikistan’s tourism potential on the Internet in English and other languages.

-           Poor roadside infrastructure for local and foreign tourists. 

-           Insufficient work on the development and release of tourist maps of the regions.-           Practically all materials in local media outlets about Tajikistan are only in the Tajik language.  It is necessary to post information on international platforms and as much as possible in foreign languages.  

According to official data, tourist flows to the country over the past two years decreased almost 4.4 times due to international coronavirus-related restrictions: from about 1.3 million people in 2019 to 296,000 people in 2021. 

The Tourism Development Agency top manager told reporters in Dushanbe on February 12 last year that 350,600 tourist visited Tajikistan in 2020 (72.2-percent decrease compared to 2019).

Meanwhile, about 469,000 foreign nationals have visited Tajikistan over the first six months of this year with different purposes (business trip, rest and so on), which is 2.1 times more than in the same period last year. 

The majority of them are citizens of Uzbekistan --319,000 people; Russia -- 112,000; Kazakhstan - 9,700; the United States – 2,900; Turkey -- 2,700 citizens; China -- 2,000; Kyrgyzstan -- 1,900; Iran -- 1,800; Afghanistan -- 1,500; and etc.

240 tour operators now operate in Tajikistan, which is 19 companies more compared to January-June 2021. 

It is to be noted that the tourism industry is an economic sector among those most severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Tajikistan’s rich cultural heritage, hospitality and abundance of mountain snow peaks, rivers, lakes and recreational opportunities contribute to the development of country’s tourism industry.  In 2018, Tajik Government announced a year of tourism development.  The tourism sector is considered a priority for the development of Tajikistan’s economy.  At the same time, undeveloped infrastructure and low levels of quality of services delay the growth of the tourism industry.