Turkmen tourism jewel lacks only
some visitors By Farangis
Najibullah and Murat Gurban
AWAZA,
Turkmenistan - Just five years ago, Awaza stood as
a tiny dacha retreat along the Caspian coast where
Turkmen could take refuge from the daily hustle
and bustle.
But the rustic mud-brick
cottages that once dotted the seaside have been
swept away and replaced with gleaming, high-rise
luxury hotels. Dusty dirt roads have given way to
smooth asphalt highways and marble sidewalks.
Natural beach surroundings have been sculpted into
carefully manicured parks.
Behold the
transformed Awaza, a luxurious resort town that
looms as the centerpiece of President Gurbanguly
Berdimuhamedow's dreams of building world-class
tourism infrastructure in Turkmenistan.
Since taking office in 2006,
Berdimuhamedow has channeled a
reported US$1.4 billion
into the project, with Awaza accounting for a
major slice of the pie. But if Awaza was
constructed on the adage of, "if you build it they
will come", one thing is still missing from the
equation - visitors.
During a recent trip
to the newly opened resort, an RFE/RL reporter did
not have to fight off flocks of tourists
clambering to vacation in luxury. The resort's
eight ritzy hotels, rather, were largely empty.
The Caspian Sea
town of Awaza has been turned into a glitzy
resort.
The listed prices appear
reasonable by international resort standards. The
Kerven Hotel, for example, offers a single-room
package that includes a free breakfast, room
service, access to tennis courts and a gym, a boat
trip, and airport transfer for US$50 per person
per night. For a couple more dollars, a visitor
could enjoy a massage, acupuncture therapy, an
Internet connection, and even access to a modern
medical center.
Prices too steep for
locals But for domestic tourists like Oraz,
who has visited Awaza's beaches for years, the
resort prices are too steep.
"I can't
afford to stay a week in an Awaza hotel with my
family of three," says the doctor from Ashgabat.
"In addition to hotel prices, there are other fees
to pay, like transport and food. So no, Awaza
hotels are not for me."
Oraz instead opts
to stay 20 kilometers away in Turkmenbashi, where
he pays a "fraction of Awaza hotel prices" for a
private apartment-hotel, and drives to Awaza's
beach.
Despite excellent facilities, it
appears that foreign visitors are not yet
thronging to Awaza. Shuhrat, a hotel manager at
the Awaza resort, is confident that things will
pick up.
"We usually had more tourists in
July, August, and early September," he says. "Most
of Awaza's hotels are completely booked for
August. But, again, Awaza is a new place, the
business is just beginning here."
Despite excellent facilities, it
appears that foreign visitors are not yet
thronging to Awaza.
Shuhrat and many
other locals are now dependent on Awaza's largely
state-run hotels and restaurants as their main
source of income. While they acknowledge that the
resort will likely be deserted over the winter
months, they can plan on receiving a steady state
income all year.
He believes the future is
bright for Awaza - a project that is still ongoing
with more ambitious plans to build dozens of new
hotels, aquaparks, and even artificial islands.
Luring in foreign tourists will be tricky,
however. Only a few foreign tourist agencies
currently offer tourist packages to Turkmenistan,
usually as part of a broader Central Asian tour,
and none focus on Awaza as a vacation destination.
Part of the problem is that while
Berdimuhamedow has been credited with taking steps
to open up the isolated country to the outside
world, much more needs to be done to make it truly
tourist-friendly.
Visas and red
tape The Moscow-based Zharkov Tour travel
agency says that the vast majority of visa
applications filed by potential customers from
Russia have been turned down in recent months.
The Britain-based travel agency Intrepid
Travel says it has had no such problems, but does
describe the visa process as involving a lot of
time and paperwork, including a mandatory "letter
of authorization" issued by Ashgabat.
Tourists from many Western countries have
the advantage of being able to obtain visas upon
their arrival in the country - at airports or
border crossings - assuming they have got their
paperwork in order in advance. But Ashirguly
Bayriev, an Ashgabat-based author and independent
journalist, says Turkmen authorities must further
relax regulations and travel restrictions.
"They should scrap the mandatory letter of
authorization, which takes several weeks to
obtain," Bayriev says. "There are other
unnecessary restrictions for foreign tourists -
they have to be accompanied by a local guide
during their stay in the country. And they are
allowed to stay only in designated hotels."
Some see Awaza as a work in progress,
however, and find opportunity in its unfinished
state. Taxi driver Bazar is happy that no public
transport links have been established between the
resort city and Turkmenbashi, which has the
nearest airport.
"Awaza seems to be at the
center of the president's attention, which is good
for developing our region and creating more jobs,"
Bazar says. "As for me personally, it's a way of
making some extra cash during the summer months."
Written and reported by Farangis
Najibullah in Prague, with reporting from
RFE/RL's Turkmen Service correspondent Murat
Gurban in Awaza.
Copyright (c)
2012, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted with the permission of
Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW,
Washington DC 20036.
(To view the original
article, please click here.)
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The Caspian Sea
town of Awaza has been turned into a glitzy
resort.
Despite excellent facilities, it
appears that foreign visitors are not yet
thronging to Awaza. 
