DUSHANBE, 03.02.2017. /NIAT “Khovar”/. The capital of Tajikistan — Dushanbe city ranked first place in the ranking of promising cities. The ranking of 5 cities that have great tourist potential is made by travel magazine “34travel” based on the research of the well-known American company “MasterCard”.

The ranking also includes Sofia — capital of Bulgaria, Bucharest — the capital of Romania, the city of Casablanca of Morocco and Boston of USA. These cities are currently visited by relatively small number of tourists, however, in the near future they are able to turn into a new world tourist “Mecca”.

The magazine “34travel”, commenting on the choice of Dushanbe as a promising touristic city, writes: “Its mountain landscapes are clear and calm. But if you want to enjoy all the pleasures of the lack of tourism industry, then it will be reasonable to plan a trip in the nearest future. In 2015, Tajikistan was visited by two times more tourists than the year before”.

Dushanbe in the description of this journal appears to be a gateway for those who want to see the peaks of Pamir or to get acquainted with the monuments of the period of Zaratustry. The ranking authors advise to lovers of mountain landscape and ancient heritage, before climbing up to the Pamir or to discover the unknown treasures of Zoroastrianism, “do not forget to explore the capital properly. Its name translates as “Monday” so that Dushanbe as though hints that it follows to begin the travel here”.

The authors, advising tourists to visit museums of antiquities, archaeology and ethnography in Dushanbe, write: “Do not forget to assess the local cuisine — the famous Tajik plov (pilaf) and sweets. There is also in Dushanbe the biggest statue of the sleeping Buddha in Central Asia”.

It should be noted that ranking was published at that time when the Founder of the Peace and National Unity — Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon in his regular Address to Majlisi Oli paying special attention to tourism sector, noted the following: “Fabulously beautiful landscape and nature of Tajikistan is unique and one of the best tourist destinations in the world from the perspective of civilization and hospitality, climate, weather, landscape, sky-high mountains, delicious fruits, wonderful glaciers, healing waters, lakes and springs with pure water, flora and fauna, national customs and traditions”. In addition, the Leader of the Nation noted that simplified visa regime is currently effective in Tajikistan for the citizens of more than 80 countries, as a result of which the number of tourists has gradually increased over the past three years and increased by two times (from 207 000 to 414 000).

According to the Committee for Youth Affairs, Sports and Tourism under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, just for the 9 months of 2016 Tajikistan was visited by more than 312 thousand foreign tourists that is more than 72 thousand or 23% compared to the previous year. For this period, the tourist flow brought income to the country’s economy in the amount of 156 million USD. The Committee intends by 2020 to bring the number of foreign tourists who are annually visited Tajikistan to 1 million people.

The Head of State Emomali Rahmon in his Address also stressed that it is necessary to establish a separate institution on tourism under the Government of Tajikistan in 2017 in order to further expand the tourism sector. The President of the country instructed the Government jointly with the relevant ministries and agencies and local executive authorities to ensure the development of tourism infrastructure, improvement of quality of services, expansion of the process of public regulation and support of tourism, attraction of more investments, coordination of the activities of all agencies and institutions and training of professional staff in this field with a view to further developing the sector and widely using the existing opportunities. It was also instructed to exempt the import of construction equipment and materials for tourism facilities from tax and customs duties, as well as to exempt tourism agencies from the profit tax during the first five years of their operation.