Tajikistan Sets An Example For Lldcs By Leveraging Tourism As A Tool For Regional Integration, Infrastructure Development, And Sustainable Socio-economic Growth Across Rural And Urban Areas

Published on August 19, 2025

Tajikistan is emerging arsenic a starring illustration successful demonstrating really tourism tin thrust economical translator successful Landlocked Developing Countries. With nan support of UN Tourism, nan state is showcasing strategies that leverage rural, cultural, and nature-based tourism to boost revenue, create jobs, heighten connectivity, and foster inclusive growth. By integrating tourism pinch sectors specified arsenic agriculture, imaginative industries, and taste heritage, Tajikistan highlights nan imaginable for sustainable recreation to enactment arsenic a catalyst for structural transformation, organization prosperity, and location integration crossed LLDCs.

UN Tourism Highlights Opportunities for Landlocked Developing Countries successful 2024

In 2024, Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) welcomed 50 cardinal world tourists, accounting for astir 3.5% of world tourism arrivals. While this number demonstrates nan sector’s increasing entreaty successful LLDCs, it remains humble compared to nan global tourism gross share, wherever these countries captured only 1.4%. The mean income per tourer successful LLDCs stands astatine USD 445, importantly little than nan global mean of USD 1,182, highlighting nan important untapped potential. This discrepancy points to nan urgent request for strategic interventions, innovative argumentation frameworks, and assets mobilization to heighten worth creation, summation net per visitor, and create tourism arsenic a cardinal driver of sustainable economical growth.

Tourism and nan Awaza Programme of Action

Tourism is simply a cardinal pillar of nan Awaza Programme of Action (APoA) 2024-2034, serving arsenic a strategical driver for nan socio-economic improvement and translator of Landlocked Developing Countries. Within nan APoA, tourism is recognized not only arsenic a root of foreign revenue but besides arsenic a catalyst for structural economical transformation, backstage assemblage development, overseas nonstop investment, transit and carrier improvements, and location connectivity.

One of nan superior goals of nan APoA is to increase nan output of work sectors, peculiarly tourism, twofold by 2034. The inaugural besides focuses connected strengthening connections betwixt tourism and complementary industries, including agriculture, taste heritage, imaginative arts, and nature-oriented sectors, to maximize economical benefits and thrust sustainable development. By integrating tourism pinch these complementary sectors, LLDCs tin heighten their value chains, stimulate innovation, and unlock further income opportunities while creating sustainable employment and economical resilience.

Accelerating Sustainable Tourism Development

A dedicated high-level sheet chat brought together representatives from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, on pinch experts from nan UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and nan Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The chat centered connected effective argumentation approaches, pioneering programs, and applicable strategies aimed astatine fast-tracking sustainable tourism maturation successful Landlocked Developing Countries.

Key priorities identified see expanding tourism infrastructure to accommodate increasing visitant numbers, enhancing community engagement, building capacity for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), promoting responsible and sustainable tourism, processing diverse tourism products, and fostering stronger public-private assemblage collaboration. These measures are captious for improving nan wide tourism acquisition while ensuring that section communities and mini businesses use from growth.

The sheet highlighted nan UN Tourism’s Tourism for Rural Development Programme, a flagship inaugural designed to usage tourism arsenic a conveyance for rural improvement and organization well-being. Through this programme, agrarian communities person targeted support successful areas specified arsenic capacity building, merchandise development, and sustainability practices. Key initiatives characteristic nan UN Tourism Best Tourism Villages programme, offering agrarian destinations a broad self-evaluation framework, and nan Small Grants Programme, presently being piloted successful Africa pinch support from nan Tui Care Foundation, designed to empower section communities to create and negociate sustainable tourism projects.

Strategic Recommendations for LLDCs

During nan UN Tourism broadside arena astatine LLDC3, experts outlined cardinal strategical measures to leverage tourism arsenic a catalyst for economical diversification, inclusive growth, and strengthened resilience successful Landlocked Developing Countries.

1. Position Tourism arsenic a Core Economic Pillar – LLDCs should prioritize rural, cultural, and nature-based tourism arsenic engines for employment creation, entrepreneurship, and inclusive development, ensuring that tourism benefits scope section communities.
2. Develop Cross-Sectoral Linkages – Strengthening connections betwixt tourism, agriculture, imaginative industries, taste heritage, and biology conservation tin heighten worth chains, unlock caller income opportunities, and broaden marketplace entree for section products and services.
3. Enhance Connectivity and Infrastructure – Investments successful transport, infrastructure, and cross-border mobility are basal to facilitate seamless travel, fortify location integration, and guarantee territorial cohesion crossed LLDCs.
4. Support MSMEs and Community-Led Initiatives – By promoting responsible tourism merchandise development, inclusive argumentation frameworks, and capacity-building programmes, LLDCs tin empower section businesses and guarantee organization benefits are maximized.
5. Expand Financing Mechanisms – Establishing and scaling small grants, public-private partnerships, and targeted finance funds will alteration grassroots actors to instrumentality sustainable tourism models and standard successful initiatives crossed regions.

Unlocking nan Potential of Tourism successful LLDCs

Tourism presents a transformative opportunity for LLDCs to diversify their economies, summation overseas revenue, and make jobs successful some municipality and agrarian areas. By implementing nan recommendations highlighted successful nan UN Tourism event, LLDCs tin span nan spread betwixt existent capacity and world benchmarks, raise nan average income per visitor, and leverage tourism arsenic a strategic instrumentality for inclusive growth.

Tajikistan is showcasing really tourism tin thrust economical transformation, create jobs, and foster inclusive maturation successful Landlocked Developing Countries pinch support from UN Tourism. The state highlights sustainable recreation arsenic a catalyst for structural development, organization prosperity, and location integration.

With enhanced infrastructure, innovative policies, organization participation, and cross-sector collaboration, LLDCs are well-positioned to unlock nan afloat imaginable of world tourism, ensuring that nan benefits are wide shared, environmentally sustainable, and resilient to world economical challenges. Tourism, erstwhile efficaciously managed, tin frankincense go a cornerstone of socio-economic development, location integration, and semipermanent prosperity successful Landlocked Developing Countries.