EcoJaratman Toktogul festival was held in Toktogul district of Jalal-Abad region of Kyrgyzstan. The UNDP Office in Kyrgyzstan reported.
More than 200 participants gathered in Cholpon-Ata village of Toktogul district of Jalal-Abad region to work out and agree on ways to develop Toktogul district through ecotourism opportunities and creative cluster development.
The first day of the festival was devoted to discussing mechanisms to increase the tourism potential of Toktogul district. The main emphasis was made on the formation of partnership between government agencies, local governments and tour operators, in order to develop and implement innovative tools to attract investment in the tourism infrastructure of the region.
Tour operators were presented with new tourist routes in specially protected natural areas — Alatai, Kan-Achuu and Saimaluu-Tash. The 15 tourist routes developed with UNDP support will become the basis for the formation of the region’s tourism potential.
There was also a session on the development of creative cluster and its impact on the local community. Speakers shared their experience in creating creative communities and developing territories as tourist destinations in other regions of the republic. The partner of the event, Public Foundation «Women’s Peace Bank», presented the interim results of the UNDP project «Women’s Creative Lab», which can become one of the drivers of development of the creative cluster of Toktogul.
The festival featured a fair of goods from local craftswomen, creative performances and a Birdwatching demonstration tour.
«The festival became a platform for developing joint measures aimed at developing and promoting local tourism products and services, building up the region’s tourism infrastructure and promoting the financial sustainability of protected areas, thus providing comprehensive support for biodiversity conservation and local development,» UNDP said.
