Month: March 2019

For 3000 years, camel caravans crossed the golden sands of Central Asia along a route known as the Silk Road. Established around 130 B.C., during China’s Han Dynasty, the Silk Road was actually a network of roads that not only served as a trade route for the exchange of spices, textiles, gems and perfumes but allowed ideas and technological advances to migrate between the East and West.

At the crossroads of the Silk Road was Kazakhstan, which today is the world’s ninth largest country and remains at the center of Central Asian commerce. In March, George Washington University’s Larry Yu visited Kazakhstan’s Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University (KazNPU) to attend the first International Scientific and Practical Conference on Trends and Perspectives of Tourism Development in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. GW alumnus Kenenbay Mambetaliyev, a faculty member at KazNPU, helped to organize the conference along with George Washington University’s International Institute of Tourism Studies and the Department of Tourism of Alamaty City.

“Most US tourists have not focused on Kazakhstan, much less Central Asia, as potential travel destinations. However that may soon be changing,” explained Dr. Yu, who spoke at the conference’s plenary session Tourism as an Engine for Development and conducted two workshops for participants. “While the Kazakh economy has relied on oil and gas exports, tourism has increasingly been recognized as key to economic diversification in the region, which has been hard hit by the fall in the prices of natural resources over the last decade or so.”

Not only is Kazakhstan vast but culturally varied, historically rich and teeming with unusual flora and fauna. Take the Aksu Zhabagly Nature Reserve, for example, which is not only home to snow leopards and other rare mammals, but it’s believed that tulips originated there, long before they were introduced to Holland. Or the Korgalzhyn Nature Reserve, famous for its pink flamingos and other bird species. Or the mystifying singing sands of the Altyn Emel National Park, which emit a low-pitched, synchronized musical sound.

To attract more foreign visitors to the region, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have announced a program to allow tourists to travel between the two countries on one visa. The so-called "Silk Visa" is so promising that similar arrangements are being considered by nearby Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan Azerbaijan and Turkey. Since 2017, citizens of 45 countries, have been able to travel to Kazakhstan visa-free for 30 days. As a result, in 2017 alone, Kazakhstan saw almost an 18 percent increase in tourists, achieving a record of 5.8 million foreign visitors in the first nine months of the year. According to a recent TripAdvisor survey, 47 percent of travelers responded that a single visa regime in Central Asia would increase their willingness to travel to the region.

However, visas are not the only the obstacle to tourism development in the region. Flights between Central Asian countries are relatively infrequent. And Central Asia’s proximity to Afghanistan raises safety concerns for visitors. Nevertheless, the Kazakh government is committed to bolstering the country’s tourism sector, a goal shared by the conference attendees, who included university professors, researchers, government officials, industry professionals and students from the US and Central Asian countries.

“Sustainable tourism development has enormous potential for this region,” notes Yu. “Visitors can generate revenue for local communities while providing them with the incentive to protect their cultural and natural resources.”

 

White sand beaches and colorful coral reefs have made Roatán an increasingly popular destination. More than a million cruise ships passengers, scuba divers and other visitors are drawn to the tropical island each year. While it’s located just 36 miles off Honduras’ northern coast, the slice of Caribbean paradise feels like it’s a million miles from the challenges that plague the mainland—most of them related to the fact that sixty percent of the population lives in poverty.

Yet Roatán is confronting its own set of issues. The island’s growing popularity has resulted in increased wastewater, pollution and other environmental threats posed by the accelerated growth of tourism, let alone the impact of climate change, which is impacting coral reefs around the world. Nevertheless, Roatan’s offshore reef, remains one of the healthiest stretches of the Mesoamerican Reef system, the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere.

To help Roatán manage and plan for a sustainable future, a team from the George Washington University International Institute of Tourism Studies has been working with conservationists, business owners, local government and community members on a destination sustainability plan that will allow islanders to derive economic benefit from tourism, yet manage problems associated with increased visitation.

“I conducted Roatán's first destination assessment about five years ago, explains International Institute of Tourism Studies Executive Director Seleni Matus.  “They’ve made impressive accomplishments since then. The establishment of the Bay Islands Destination Management Organization in 2017, which is ensuring coordination and collaboration among stakeholders for shared management of tourism on the island, has been a key development.”

Roatán’s success is due largely to the active involvement of a number of local NGOs including the Bay Islands Conservation Association, whose mandate is to conserve local resources, and the Coral Reef Alliance, which works with local communities to protect and manage the reef.

In January, Matus returned to Roatán with Masters of Tourism Administration student Taylor Ruoff to conduct a reassessment of the island based on the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Criteria for Destinations. These guidelines, which serve as the global baseline for sustainability in travel and tourism, cover four general areas—cultural, environmental and socioeconomic impacts of tourism, and sustainable destination management.

In addition to the reassessment, Ruoff explains that, “To better understand the current challenges of sustainable tourism development and allow the community to decide on growth priorities for the next five years, we held focus groups with tour operators, attraction managers, NGOs, community groups and other representatives from the local tourism industry. We also conducted interviews with the governor, mayor, hoteliers and key business owners.”

In March, Matus and Ruoff presented their assessment findings and facilitated the development of a five-year community action plan with priority projects that include, for example, initiatives around wastewater management, improved zoning and food safety regulations, support for local entrepreneurs, and the establishment of an artisan-designated marketplace and culinary festivals like this summer’s two-day Roatán International Shrimp Festival.

Concluded Ruoff: “The passion demonstrated by local community members around the importance of natural and cultural heritage conservation— along with seeing the progress they’ve made over the last five years— is enormously inspiring." While Ruoff concedes that there’s still a great deal more to do to make the destination sustainable for the long term, she is optimistic that this community is up for the challenge, thanks to the collaboration and dedication of local leadership, community groups, business owners and NGOs.

This GSTC Destination Assessment is  supported by the GSTC, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit. It is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. to promote destination stewardship and cruise tourism sustainability.