Huge Stress for Tourists. Official on Toilets in Kyrgyzstan

Currently, only ten Rest Points operate across Kyrgyzstan. This was reported on ‘Birinchi Radio’ by Damir Zhumakanov, head of the international cooperation department of OJSC ‘Fund for Tourism Development Support’. According to him, such facilities as Rest Points are intended to create conditions on tourist-attractive routes. ‘Initially, the task was to build 58 such points. Today, we are considering alternative solutions to this problem, including involving business and other financial institutions,’ said Damir Zhumakanov. He noted that the theater starts with the cloakroom, and tourism – with the toilet. ‘In the Kyrgyz Republic, there are many beautiful locations where tourists go, but in most such places, there are no high-quality sanitary facilities. Latrines are a thing of the past; we need to move away from this. In the mountains, they set up yurt camps, place topchans, but the toilet is two boards with a roof. It may be familiar to us, but for foreign tourists – huge stress. There are tourists who have never seen anything like this in their lives and don’t even know such toilets exist. There was a case when one tour operator was taking tourists from Arab countries. And when one of the Arabs was asked why only men travel without wives and children, they replied that their wives have nowhere to go to the toilet here. In nature, men can still afford Spartan conditions, but women cannot,’ admitted the official. He added that the Rest Point construction project initiated by the fund has problems. ‘But at the same time, it has provoked the construction of other sanitary facilities, including those financed by the World Bank. New Rest Points in the south of the republic are large in size with spacious parking for trucks, have hostels, areas for cafes and restaurants, laundries, and so on, to create maximum comfortable conditions,’ said Damir Zhumakanov.