SWITCH-Asia

On 15th December 2020, the first round table discussion with stakeholders implementing the SWITCH-Asia project MOST - A Model for sustainable tourism in Central Asia: building capacities, creating awareness, introducing technology was held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The event was organised by the Tajik Association for Promotion of Tourism Development (TATO) with the support of The Committee on the Tourism Development under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, and the Heraklion Development Agency, in Greece.

With over 40 participants attending the event, the round table discussion touched upon enhancing the role of government in ensuring sustainable tourism development, the importance of public dialogue between government and tourism stakeholders, and the need for constructive partnerships with international organizations to raise investment and other technical support tools.

Participants noted that the strategic objectives of tourism organizers and governing bodies for the coming period should be the following:

• Enhancing the role of local and regional authorities in planning and implementing sustainable tourism policies in the region;
• Establishing constructive links with investment and other technical support tools from development partners;
• Strengthening public and policy dialogue between key stakeholders and tourism operators;
• Capacity building of medium small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) in view of enhancing their knowledge of the World Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) criteria for sustainable tourism;
• Equipping targeted tourism enterprises (MSMEs) with standards and certification, software for real monitoring of water and energy consumption as well as comfort parameters in the hospitality infrastructure premises (Hotels, Guest Houses, catering facilities);
• Organisation of educational trainings on sectoral marketing, identification of financial sources for adaptation of practices of tourism entities and implementation of interaction with investors and Development Partners;
• Organisation of activities to raise awareness of the users of tourism services on sustainable water consumption, energy consumption and waste management and control methods, and to raise public awareness on sustainable tourism.

In this context, the SWITCH-Asia MOST project promotes sustainable tourism in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan through implementation of ISO standards related to green procurement and eco-labeling. It also elaborates Guidelines on sustainable consumption, including usage of water, energy and recyclable waste, and  encourages the sharing of EU best practices such as legislative frameworks and regulations, while applying needed ICT and marketing tools.

Learn more about the project here.