In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, the head of the Tourism Development Committee under the Government of Tajikistan, Kamoliddin Muminzoda, stated on February 12 that 1.256 million foreign tourists (with 92.5 percent of them being citizens of the CIS member nations) visited Tajikistan last year, which is 20.2 percent more than in 2022.
Citizens of 121 countries of the world visited Tajikistan last year. Most of them reportedly came from Uzbekistan – 806.000 (15-percent increase), Russia 262,400 (92.8 percent increase), Kazakhstan – 25,000 (31.8-percent increase), China – 13,000 (4.9-fold increase), and Turkiye – 10,800 (61.2-percent increase).
According to official data of the Tourism Development Committee, each tourist leaves approximately 335.00 U.S. dollars in Tajikistan.
Muminzoda also noted that two investment projects are currently being implemented in the country to support further development of the tourism sector.
One of them is financed by US$10 million provided the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Under this project, with the involvement of two foreign consulting companies, the process of developing master tourism plans for Dushanbe and its surroundings as well as for the Fann Mountains and the city of Panjakent in Sughd province has begun. And another project aimed at supporting development of the country’s agrarian sector is financed by the World Bank through providing 30 million US dollars. Of this amount, US$15.7 million were reportedly channeled to support development of Tajikistan’s tourism sector.
999,300 foreign tourists reportedly visited Tajikistan in 2022, which is 3.4 times or 703,000 tourists more than in 2021.
It is to be noted that the main tasks of the tourism industry for the period up to 2027 include the creation of the tourism infrastructure in accordance with world standards, training of qualified personnel for the tourism industry, improvement of quality of offered tourist services and expansion of their list, increasing the country's status in international ratings, and formation of a national brand.
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 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.
