Turkmenistan's tourism industry presented in Baku
By Aynur Jafarova
Turkmenistan has presented its tourism industry in Baku last week. The event was organized by the Turkmen embassy in Baku on the basis of the state program "Development of tourism in Turkmenistan in 2012-2016" approved by Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.
The event was attended by the representatives of the Culture and Tourism Ministry, Institute of Tourism, journalists and the heads of tourism companies of Azerbaijan.
Addressing the participants, Turkmen ambassador to Baku Toyli Komekov spoke about the program of development of tourism in Turkmenistan.
According to him, this program has an innovative feature and envisages the support to the market relations in the tourism sector. Furthermore, this program will stimulate the development of economic fields, in particular, transport, trade, construction, agriculture as well as the development of culture, rational use of the nature and maintenance of ethnic originality and historic heritage.
Stressing that Turkmenistan has a great potential for the development of tourism thanks to the increase in economy and stable political situation, Komekov mentioned the words of President Berdymukhamedov that effective use of tourism potential of Turkmenistan is the important part of the complex social-economic strategy of the country.
According to the ambassador, after the approval of the state program, a new stage opened in the implementation of the strategy to develop the tourism complex with the key role of the state.
Now, the main task in the tourism development in Turkmenistan is creation of an attractive tourism image, ensuring of economic and social development of the infrastructure, inventory, conservation and reconstruction of archeological and historical-cultural objects and resources of tourism, the ambassador added.
According to Komekov, a special attention is given to the expansion of international relations, in particular partnership with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), implementation of intergovernmental agreements on tourism, participation at foreign exhibitions, fairs, conferences and other international events and organization of qualification courses for specialists in tourism and hotel sector in France, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt and Thailand.
Embassy spokesman Batyr Rejepov spoke about health resorts of Turkmenistan such as Archman, Yili suv, Berzengi, Farab, Mollakara and Bayramaly.
He also provided information on Avaza National Tourist Zone and historical-cultural monuments of the country.
The construction of Avaza National Tourist Zone, which is located at the east side of the Caspian Sea, began about five years ago upon an initiative of President Berdymukhamedov. The government has invested about $1.4 billion in the project and about the same is envisioned for its later stages.
According to the State Tourism Committee, about 8,697 foreign tourists, of whom about half were citizens of a neighboring country, visited Turkmenistan in 2011.
Experts believe that tourism was an underdeveloped sector in Turkmenistan representing less than one percent of the country's GDP, however, its development could boost revenues.
Analysts say Turkmenistan needs to remove obstacles for visitors and tourists, as obtaining a visa still remains very difficult here.