Improving Infrastructure as the Key to Sustainable Tourism

It is needless to remind anyone that traveling is one of humanity’s most enjoyable pastimes. It makes life more exciting, broadens horizons, and allows tourists to become acquainted with cultural and natural landmarks, sights, and the ways of life of various peoples, including their unique national histories, cultures, folklore, and cuisines.

Turkmenistan has huge potential for development of tourism. The ancient Great Silk Road, dotted with many caravanserais that have survived to this day, passed through the territory of modern Turkmenistan. The country’s socio-political stability, natural landscapes, climate, history, and people contribute to the development of various forms of tourism: historical and cultural, recreational, adventure, congress, sports, exotic, religious, ecological, and more.

I’d like to highlight the tourist attractions of Turkmenistan’s easternmost region, particularly the Koytendag State Nature Reserve, which combines historical, cultural, ecological, and exotic tourism all at once.

It’s worth noting that the Koytendag mountain range, like the mountain systems originating from the Asian ranges of the Pamirs and Tien Shan on the border areas of neighboring countries, is of significant interest to international conservation organizations, such as the World Wildlife Fund, the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), and other international nature conservation funds.

In keeping with the course of developing eco-tourism while preserving the pristine natural and cultural environment, the Public Association Enterprise (PAE) “Tebigy Kuwwat” has repeatedly organized activities to raise awareness and understanding of the infrastructure necessary for building sustainable eco-tourism in the Koytendag mountain range. Last year, the organization held a seminar on this topic at the administrative territory of the Koytendag Reserve. To ensure inclusivity, the PAE later partnered with the public association “Yenme” to conduct a seminar on the same topic, incorporating full inclusivity. As a gesture of goodwill, and in honor of Turkmenistan’s Neutrality Day, the organization also held a tree-planting event in collaboration with the reserve staff.

Inspired by the information presented at these seminars, the reserve’s leadership began improving the most visited tourist sites in the reserve, such as the “Kyrk Gyz” grotto and the Dinosaur Plateau.

Understanding the key areas that require attention, a decision was made to construct convenient restrooms and awning for shade on sunny days. At the “Kyrk Gyz” tourist site, due to a lack of water for technical needs, irrigation of plants, and fire safety, the reserve’s administration decided to build a water reservoir with a capacity of up to 20 cubic meters.

Additionally, a 40-meter-long fence was built along the width of the entire path, standing 1.4 meters high, with a turnstile and a metal panel displaying historical information about the tourist site. This decision was driven by soil contamination and increased air pollution in the poorly ventilated part of the “Kyrk Gyz” grotto, caused by visitors parking their vehicles too close. Furthermore, narrow paths were made inconvenient for hikers due to horse tours, which resulted in horse manure along the trails, detracting from the pristine natural aesthetic.

A similar issue affects the Dinosaur Plateau tourist site, where disorganized grazing of livestock is common, and both horse and motorcycle routes operate, which further affect air quality. Therefore, infrastructure improvements similar to those at the “Kyrk Gyz” tourist site are planned.

This kind of activity aimed at developing eco-tourism will be even more effective if it is implemented comprehensively, with the involvement of all stakeholders, and if regular efforts are made to instill a love for the local area and a deep respect for nature!

Berkeli Atayev.