DUSHANBE, March 13, Asia-Plus  -- A working meeting of Tajik tourism companies participating in the community based tourism development support projects was held in Khatlon’s Baljuvon district yesterday.  

The meeting was staged by the Tourism Development Center, which coordinates implementation of the community based tourism development programs in this area.    

A Baljuvon meeting was continuation of a two-day working meeting of participants in the community based tourism development support projects that was held in Dushanbe on March 10-11.   

The Baljuvon meeting participants discussed issues related to problems and prospects of development of community based tourism in the country and got acquainted with conditions offered by the Tourism Development Center to foreign tourists in the district.  

The working groups decided to hold an enlarged meeting to discuss a  specific community based tourism development concept in Dushanbe in September.   

Speaking at the meeting, the Tourism Development Center head Bahriddin Isamuddinov pointed to the necessity of determining goals and problems and lobbing for interests of the tourism industry and improvement of the tourism legislation in the parliament.     

Community based tourism is tourism in which local residents (often rural, poor and economically marginalized) invite tourists to visit their communities with the provision of overnight accommodation.  The residents earn income as land managers, entrepreneurs, service and produce providers, and employees.  At least part of the tourist income is set aside for projects which provide benefits to the community as a whole.

Community based tourism enables the tourist to discover local habitats and wildlife, and celebrates and respects traditional cultures, rituals and wisdom. The community will be aware of the commercial and social value placed on their natural and cultural heritage through tourism, and this will foster community based conservation of these resources.

Local experts say this type of tourism is suitable for conditions and realities of Tajikistan, which is dominated by mountains (some 93% of the land surface lies above 1,500 meters) and where 70 percent of the population lives in rural areas. 

The community based tourism development support project, supported by the Tajik Branch of Open Society Institute/ Assistance Foundation (OSI/AF) and coordinated by the Tourism Development Center, has worked in Tajikistan since 2005