DUSHANBE, September 23, 2008, Asia-Plus -- The republican tourism exhibition entitled “Tourism in Tajikistan – 2008” will open at the Kokhi Vahdat State Complex in Dushanbe on September 27.    

Lochin Fayzulloyev, deputy head of the Committee for Youth, Sports and Tourism Affairs, told Asia-Plus today that the exhibition will be held in the following sections: national tourist organizations; tour agents; mountaineering; ecotourism; excursion tours; mountain-walking tourism, cultural-historical tourism; ethnographic tourism; and hotels and resorts.  

He noted that 134 tour operators currently function in Tajikistan, while in 2000, only 20 tourist firms operated in the country. 

 According to the Committee for Youth, Sports and Tourism Affairs, more than 150,000 foreign tourists have visited Tajikistan over the first six months of this year.  

We will recall that press release issued by The Principals’ Group, which is a coordination body of ambassadors and representatives of donors and international financial Institutions in Tajikistan, on June 13, 2008, noted that although Tajikistan was ranked near the bottom of an international tourism index (110th position out of 124), there had been a 60% growth in receipts from tourism in 2007.