Study area

Aims

Thus, the main aim of my study is to present the most complete picture of application of GIS in sustinable eco-tourism in Badakhshan region , Tajikistan, demonstrate the reasons of weak GIS adoption in the country and recommend ways to improve measures policy.

The key objectives of the study are:

1. To investigate opportunity of application of GIS in tourism

2. To show benefits of the use of GIS in tourism management

3. To come up with some recommendations of development TIPS (Tourism Information Promotion System ) based on GIS application for improving tourism management

Tourism in Tajikistan region is in early stage of development. The growth of tourist arrival increased to 2.35 percent from year 2004 to 2013. The role of Governments towards the tourism development is weak. Tajikistan, located in the heart of Asia, is currently developing its tourist infrastructure to make available to the international market its wealth of unspoilt natural beauty, its ancient history and the unrivalled hospitality of its people. Independent since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, Tajikistan is poor in natural resources but rich in tourist attractions: it offers extraordinary opportunities for adventure and eco-cultural tourism with untouched landscapes, archaeological treasures and attractive itineraries for walking and trekking with charming homestays along the way.

Gorno-Badakhshan is perhaps one the few areas in Central Asia, where ancient ethnic and cultural customs of the Tajik people prevail. Over the years, communities were isolated from each other by impassable mountain ranges, and developed into separate enclaves with different dialects and sometimes distinct or different languages.    The root of the languages spoken are believed to have derived from Eastern Iran unlike that of Tajik which is of Western Iranian origin.   

Situated in Badakhshan in the heart of Asia, ‘The Pamirs’ is an area of sky-scraping, snow-capped, majestic mountains, transparent clear blue waters of lakes and rivers, wide valleys and bone-dry deserts. For hundreds of years, people have called these highest mountains of the world “Poy-e Mehr”, the literal translation being, “the foot of the sun” or “the Roof of the Word”. Since Soviet times, the highlands of the Pamirs has become known as Gorno-Badakhshan.