Thirty-four hotels of different class now function in Dushanbe; four of them are five-star hotels, six – four-star hotels, seven – three-star hotels, and seventeen others are unrated hotels. In total, these 34 hotels have 1,711 rooms.
Besides, ten other status hotels, with the majority of them to have a 5-star rating, are expected to be built in the Tajik capital in the coming two years. Construction of eight of them has already begun.
The authorities substantiate the necessity of building new hotels by development of tourism sector in the country.
President Emomali Rahmon declared 2018 as the Year of Tourism and Folk Crafts in Tajikistan and 2019-2021 Years of Development Tourism, Rural Areas and Folk Crafts in Tajikistan and ordered to create a modern tourism infrastructure. The Government has provided benefits on construction of tourism facilities, in particular hotels.
Thus, companies constructing such hotels have been exempted from paying value added tax (VAT) and customs duties.
Meanwhile, specialists working in the hotel business say hotels functioning in Dushanbe are more than enough to meet needs of guests of the capital.
According to them, Dushanbe needs cheap hostels and motels and not five-star hotels.
Currently, only eight hostels and two motels with totaling 66 rooms now operate in Dushanbe.
“An average daily cost of a room in Dushanbe-based hotels is more than 100.00 U.S. dollars. To attract ordinary tourists to the city for such prices is an impossible task, especially as Dushanbe does not have historical or cultural relics to see,” economist Rajab Saidov told Asia-Plus in an interview.
Moreover, elite hotels being constructed in the city will pay off in 10 or 15 years at best, Saidov noted.
