Looking for adventure holidays: Tajikistan is the next destination for UAE residents

Dubai: As many Central Asian countries have recently eased visa restrictions to lure tourists from the UAE, the next destination to explore is the magical Tajikistan- the land of mountains, rivers and lakes.

“We invite people of all nationalities to visit our country as we celebrate 2019-2021 as ‘Years of Tourism Development and Industrialisation of the country’, said Ilhom Abdurahmon, Consul General of the Republic of Tajikistan in Dubai.

Speaking to Gulf News, Abdurahmon said that Tajikistan offers a wide range of attractions to tourists of all age groups. There are a plenty of choices from adventure to leisure and from family to medical tourism.

He said the number of tourists Tajikistan to the UAE have also been steadily increasing and the figure touched around 25,000 visitors last year.

Easy visa procedure

“The number of tourists from UAE to Tajikistan has also spiked since we launched the e-visa and visa for arrival for about 80 countries including the UAE citizens,” he said, adding that expatriates community in the UAE can also apply for e-visas to visit Tajikistan.

“Expatriates who hold valid UAE visas can either apply at our consulate or the embassy or can take e-visa to visit Tajikistan,” he explained. He said the process of getting visa is very simple.

Emiratis can get visa on arrival in Tajikistan.

Tajikistan Consul General said that number of Tajiks living in the UAE have also been on the rise. “Around 2,000 Tajiks mainly businessmen live in the UAE in addition to students studying in Sharjah and Dubai,” he revealed.

He said many young Tajik nationals living here also work with tourism and the trading companies as translators as they can speak Russian, Tajik and Persian. The help businesspersons and tourists who visit the UAE from Tajikistan.

Land of mountains, rivers and glaciers

Tajikistan is surrounded by Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

It is known for rugged mountains, popular for hiking and climbing.

The Fann Mountains, near the Tajikistan capital city of Dushanbe, have snow-capped peaks that rise over 5,000 meters.

“We are also planning to open the first Tajik restaurant in collaboration with private investors to offer authentic Tajik cuisine in the UAE,” he said, adding that Tajik government has also invited private investors from the UAE to invest in Tajikistan offering various projects including energy sector.

Emirati investors, he said, can also invest in joint ventures for processing agriculture products, establishing warehouse for storing fruits and vegetables, and exporting them to the UAE, and opening of joint ventures for processing cotton fibre, leather and wool in Tajikistan.

Joint ventures

The Joint Inter-governmental Commission on Economic and Trade Cooperation between Tajikistan and the UAE is plays an important role in the economic relationship between the two countries.

More than 14 companies with UAE investments are already operating in the Tajikistan.

Tajikistan exports mostly fruits, dried fruits and cigarettes to the UE and imports from UAE are IT products, cars, furniture, coffee and tea.

Modern Tajikistan is a mountainous country with the altitude from 300 metres to 7595 metres above the sea level. Some 93 per cent of the territory is mountain rangers with about 1000 rivers, 2000 lakes and 8000 glaciers.

Expo 2020 Dubai

Abduramamon said that Tajikistan would participate in the Expo2020, Dubai at the highest level.

“We are preparing to participate in the world’s greatest show Expo 2020 Dubai and will bring the best of Tajikistan to Dubai,” he added.

From January 1, 2017, he said, Tajikistan launched an electronic network system for visa application Electronic visa which is valid for 90 days but the holder of the visa cannot stay for more than 45 days from the date of arrival in the country.