I’ve read an interesting article about tourism in Kyrgyzstan by Dina Tokbaeva from Bishkek Press Club and decided to translate this article. Here it is, with some small shortening.

Tourism companies of Kyrgyzstan told that there was an increase in the number of the foreign tourists to the country. According to the statistics from the company “Dostuk Trekking”, the flood of tourists to Kyrgyzstan increases 10-15% every year.

“The peak of foreign tourists was in 2001 year. Than it has been in recession since 2002. But there is a stable increase since 2005”, told Valentin Derevjanko, manager of a company “Yak Tour Travel”.

He stressed that there would be a double increase of the number of foreign tourists in the country with a more stable political situation.

Most of tourists coming to Kyrgyzstan are from France, Great Britain, Holland, USA, Japan and Australia.

According to the statistic of the tourism companies, the most visited area in Kyrgyzstan is Issyk-Kul lake. Tourists from Kazakhstan and Russia are interested in rest at the lake; tourists from abroad are more attracted by mountains.

Sergey Katanaev, manager of “Dostuk Trekking” told BPC, that about 70% of the tourists do special tours of the Great Silk Road. The route goes from Kashgar to Bishkek across the Torugart pass and include excursions around Issyk-Kul lake. Tourists are accommodated in yurt camps on the Issyk-Kul lakeside and in Tash-Rabat gorge near the Chinese border.

“As a rule, people who arrive to Kyrgyzstan with a special aim are professional tourists. They would like to mountaineer to one of the 3 seven-thousand meter peaks or make a trek through the picturesque regions of the Kyrgyz range, Terskey Ala-Too or Central Tjan-Shan”, told Katanaev.

He added that tours for alpinists are typically about 20 days. Every tour is organized by special scheme and the routes are of various forms according to the interests of the specific tourist group.

Additionally, tourists are attracted to white-water rafting (there are rivers of seven complexity levels in Kyrgyzstan) and heli-skiing.

Tourists show the most interest in the culture of the nation, historical and architectural monuments and prefer eco-tourism.

The guests of the country also show interest in the yak farm. This farm is located 120 km far away from Karakol city and the road to the farm goes through the pass at high altitude (4000 m).

“Cognitive tourism is valued now. We can make individual botanical, historical, archeological, and ornithological, national-folklore excursions”, told Derevjanko.

“Once we organized a tour for an ornithologist. He came from Canada and dreamed of seeing the nesting places of the ibis-bill. The ibis-bill is rare bird, which lives in mountain river valleys at altitudes of 2000-3000 m above sea level. We went on expedition and saw this bird in four days. His reaction was indescribable. He showed us this bird at the picture in the book, wrote the date, when he saw it. The cost of such eco-tours is about $25 per day”, Derevjanko said.

“During one botanical expedition we were searching for mountain orchids. There are nine sorts of these orchids in the world and six of them grow in Kyrgyzstan. When tourist from Great Britain saw that a cow had been eating the orchid, he become infuriated and drove the cow from this place a long time. He said that it was inexcusable, because this mountain orchid grows in only a small alpine region in Europe”, noticed Derevjanko.

The routes of some tours included a visit to the capital of Kyrgyzstan. The most interest is shown for museums: Historical Museum, Frunze’s museum, and Art’s museum. Foreigners often complain about the roads in Kyrgyzstan.

Some prices.

Travel to the yak farm with a guide – 200 USD
Hunting demonstration with a golden eagle - 100 USD
Organization of a real hunt – 500 USD
Heliskiing for one hour – 150 USD
Horse riding is about 500 soms per day (about 7 USD)
Mountain pedestrian tour from 2 up to 12 days – 35 USD (food included)