The association of guest houses “Tabiati Farish” was founded by a local community that set up guest houses for tourists in 2006. The houses are located in the Nuratau mountains next to the Nurata Reserve. The association run by Komil Shakirov, Director, aims to improve tourist proposals and increase sales of services, as well as to provide organizational support for tourists wishing to visit the guest houses.
Moreover, the organization is interested in networking with other tourism actors and in service quality improvement. dvv international has supported LLC “Tabiati Farish”, first of all, by financing training programs for tourism service providers in Nurata region. However, at a certain stage the company “Tabiati Farish” identified the need for technical consultations and requested support from the German Development Service (DED), namely, providing the experts in tourism development. To strengthen the effect of technical and financial cooperation, two German organizations (dvv international and DED) signed an agreement on cooperation. The joint effort has resulted in a number of below activities.
Collecting information on needs for training of guest house managers and on financing of planned activities
In June, following detailed discussions with all the participants, the training and financing needs of “Tabiati Farish” were assessed. The discussion addressed tourism operators’ initiatives and specialists’ observations, as well as tourists’ comments.
Training for mountain guides to obtain the qualification “escort-guide”
Training of guides in the mountains of Farish region was an important part of service improvement. Before that none of the guides had a required license to do their jobs legitimately. After long negotiations, the educational department of National Company “Uzbektourism” expressed its willingness to design a training tailored to regional needs and characteristics. The training course was held in November 2009. All three participants passed the test and obtained the license of the “escort guide”, which grants them the right to work in Nuratau-Kizil-Kum area.
Sharing experience to improve guest yurts in Otakurgan
To familiarize themselves with the proposal of a yurt camp in Nurata region being popular among major tourism operators, the team of “Tabiati Farish” took a two-day trip to the yurt camp jointly with its manager from Otakurgan.
After that, there was a joint discussion of options for improvement and the range of services offered by our guest houses. The team reached a conclusion that offers by guest houses in Nurata region differ considerably from those of the yurt camp targeting big tourist groups and thus it would be sensible to target small individual groups, which could be interested in getting to know the life of local people in villages in the Nuratau mountains.
The below activities were supported by dvv international and DED.
• Installation of signs on driveways to guest houses. Making signs to be installed at forked roads. Roads to “Tabiati Farish” information center and office in Yangikishlak will be marked the same way.
• Updating of the website. The website of guest houses was updated. It is important to note that tourists increasingly use the electronic source of information.
• Consultations for guest house owners on service improvement processes. Discussions with owners covered options to improve sanitary conditions, interior and equipment of bedrooms, as well as offering additional services to better meet expectations and fulfill wishes of international clients.
• Consultations for prospective owners of guest houses. Three families from villages Sentyab and Eski Farish interested in the opportunity to host overnight guests were included in the consultation program.
• Printing reference and visual materials on local flora and fauna. Currently, reference and visual materials are being designed for local guides and guest houses; these materials will help local tourist service providers and foreign guests to communicate.
• Cooking course for guest house hostesses. The four-day cooking course was held at one of the houses in August to train hostesses in how to adapt traditional Uzbek cuisine to wishes and needs of foreign clients.
• Registration of guests by “Tabiati Farish” organization. Cooperating partners support "Tabiati Farish" in establishing all facilities to be granted the right to register foreign guests. In January at the latest “Tabiati Farish” will be given a certificate of license from National Company “Uzbektourism”.
• Setting up a network with other tourist organizations. In addition to establishing contacts with German and Uzbek tourism operators, representatives of hotel business in Samarkand were informed on the guest house services. Cooperation has already yielded its results. Hotels have sent a number of individual tourists to Nuratau and are going to include the services offered by “Tabiati Farish” in their program for 2010.
Anna Lore,
Tourism Expert
German Development Service (DED)
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