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Tourism Khorezm province and Karakalpakstan

Алишер Таксанов: литературный дневник

At present, a number of international organizations and tourist agencies are involved in working out a comprehensive program for hospitality industry development in the Khorezm Province and Karakalpakstan under the brand name “Golden Ring of Khorezm”. To this end, MBM Group experts have undertaken special studies ordered by the Institute for International Cooperation at the German Association of National Universities of Germany (IIZ/DVV). This research has been also conducted within the framework of the UNESCO Program, “Development of tourism and sustainable income increase for the population of the Aral Sea Basin”.


As a IIZ/DVV representative, Uve Gartenschleger remarked, one of the study’s aim was to identify a range of the most niggling problems haunting the region. Another one was to draw human resources into the formation of sustainable tourist infrastructure in the region.
The territory of the Khorezm Province and Karakalpakstan is strewn with plenty of natural beauties, historical and architectural monuments and archeological sites, which can be of great interest to people who are fond of ethnographic and ecological tourism. The Khorezm Province alone reportedly possesses 300 historical monuments. Remnants of ancient history are scattered throughout the region, providing evidence of the latter’s seething life many centuries ago. Occupying a pivotal position on the Great Silk Road, the region was visited by hordes of merchants, craftsmen, missioners and business people from many parts of the globe.


In the last few years, the region’s tourist potential has strengthened with the introduction of new facilities and attractions. One of them is the Savitsky Museum in the town of Nukus, which houses a collection of unique works of Uzbek, Russian and Soviet avant-gardism. A number of ecological tours are organized to a “ship cemetery” located along what has once been the coastline of the Aral Sea.
Regrettably, both the scope and quality of tourist infrastructure in the Khorezm Province and Karakalpakstan falls short of the region’s vast potentialities. This is the result of many factors, above all insufficient investment resources, as well as certain problems with water supply and medical services. The ecological disaster in the Aral Sea Basin, a low standard of living and the absence of road and rail links are also taking their toll of the region’s low attractiveness as a tourist destination.


Today, the following hotels are functioning in the capital of Karakalpakstan: “Nukus”, “Toshkent” and “Derbent”. According to experts, none of them meets modern requirements, with the level of servicing leaving much to be desired. Nevertheless, a total of 1,200 tourists, who have visited Karakalpakstan by November 2004, were accommodated there.
In the period from April to November, 6-7 yurtas are installed near the historic monument, called Ayaz-Kala. Each of them can accommodate up to 10 tourists. The elderly people, however, prefer more comfortable apartments.
The experts taking part in the research found out that up to October 2004 Khorezm was visited by 52,500 tourists, of which foreigners accounted for 19,400. The majority of them came from countries such as Germany, France and Japan. Interestingly, pensioners and people of under pension age make up the biggest portion of foreign tourists visiting Karakalpakstan.


In addition, the experts assessed the quality of services provided by enterprises and firms engaged, directly or indirectly, in the tourist business. Let it be underlined that catering services provided by local enterprises gave rise to the greatest deal of unfavorable criticism. The enterprises and firms indicated above received a good rating from 5-15 per cent of tourists. Given such a low figure, the overall situation in the region’s tourist industry should be subject to scrutiny by interested organizations, managers and individual entrepreneurs. The posture of affairs in tourism and today’s realities require joining hands, pooling available resources and combining efforts in a move to eliminate shortcomings and to give fresh impetus to the sector’s sustainable development.
According to the experts, the majority of tourist infrastructure personnel in the Khorezm Province and Karakalpakstan have a faint idea of modern methods used to organize and run such a specific business as tourism. Both the management of enterprises and servicing of tourists are carried out, almost without exception, without due qualification and proper knowledge.


It is hardly surprising then, that a conclusion drawn by the experts is unfavorable: most people engaged in the tourist industry lack the necessary skills because their specific background is insufficient, to say the least. In other words, they are dilettantes in the following spheres:
hotel and restaurant business;
the service of waiters, chambermaids and administrators on duty;
advertising and design;
calculation of expenses and accounting;
management and marketing;
modern cuisine and art of cookery.
One more thing becomes obvious from the research: tourism, per se, is an industry experiencing a mass of tangible problems, each of which hinders the sector’s development anywhere in the world, and the region under discussion is no exception. Among the problems particularly acute in the Khorezm Province and Karakalpakstan one can mention, in the first place, a complicated procedure for obtaining licences, patents, route documents etc., expensive air tickets to international and local flights operated by Uzbekiston Khavo Yullary and Tashkent-centered air routes. The latter circumstance has most potential to cause real harm to competitiveness of products offered by tourist companies operating in the Republic’s remote regions.


Broaching the subject of specificity of the Khorezm Province and Karakalpakstan, it needs to take account of the fact that a weak underdeveloped material base and more rigorous natural and climatic conditions exacerbate the running of the tourist business there. The Ayaz-Kala Tour, to cite an example, has to deliver water for its tourists from the town of Buston, about 30 km from the place, where the yurtas are installed. There are no public conveniences along the entire route, which, without doubt, raises the level of discomfort and disappointment and thereby deteriorates the quality of servicing and overall impression of the tour. The number of shops trading in souvenirs and items of applied arts is small. The experts observe that a shortage of public catering facilities in the region forces tourists to bring water and foodstuffs with them, a factor that deteriorates the quality of tourist services even further.
In Karakalpakstan, tour operators don’t have tourist-class buses at their disposal. They used to lease buses in Tashkent, Bukhara or Khorezm. The transport problem is exacerbated by the fact that access roads to most historical or religious monuments are all earth roads, which are washed away in rainy seasons. The experts also note that since any guide signs are absent, the drivers have to go all over the place in search of one or another monument.


The research in question aimed to delineate directions in which to train specialists for the hospitality industry of the region. A number of polls carried out within its framework showed that disciplines in greatest request are as follows: management, foreign languages, work with clients, marketing, waiter and chambermaid services, sales technique, cookery and restaurant business, keeping of accounting records, tour organization and legislation.
28 per cent of respondents are ready to take a 3-day course, 41 per cent – a 5-day course and 31 per cent – a 10-day course. Training programs will be compiled in accordance with their wishes and requirements. At the same time, only 19 per cent of those polled are ready to pay 5,000 Soum (some US $5) for their training, 33 per cent – less than 5,000 Soum and 48 per cent – up to 3,000 Soum. The local population’s low solvency makes it impossible for them to stump up a required amount from their family budget. It is, probably, here that the ministration from all sorts of humanitarian organizations is needed most of all.


© Copyright: Алишер Таксанов, 2009.
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