CONCEPT
Our working method stands for
Sustainable tourism in Kyrgyzstan
We aspire to avoid the negative effects on the environment often caused by tourism
This is why we are against mass tourism. In our yurt camps only small groups, maximum 10 persons, enjoy their holiday. Moreover, small groups stimulate communication between the locals and the visitors. It often happens that new friendships emerge.
As well as yurt camps we also stay in B&B’s, small local hotels and guesthouses. We always try to involve the local entrepreneurs as much as possible so the revenues will benefit the whole community.
Beside the environment, we have our people at heart
To us it is important to prevent socio-cultural changes that are often observed in places where tourism is exploited.
Mostly men and women from the nearest village work in our yurt camps,
and the guides come from the regions that we visit
In this way we hope to create jobs in the countryside. Our interpreters usually study languages, or have finished their studies, at the universities in Bishkek. Most of them come from the Issyk-Kul region. By offering them a job as a guide/interpreter, they are given the opportunity to improve their foreign language skills and, at the same time, earn a reasonable salary during the summertime. To this end they are instructed in guiding techniques. This applies for the drivers as well, and they need to have some knowledge of first aid.
Also indirectly, sources of income for the people are created, because
| most of the yurts are rented |
| we rent the horses |
| all kinds of fresh food as meat, vegetables or dairy products are bought locally |
| Kymyz, the national drink, is bought at the herdsmen’s yurts |
In various villages felt products are offered. We have helped women in different villages to start women’s cooperatives to produce felt articles, and jointly manufacture felt products, traditional as well as modern, and sell these in their own showroom. Our donations of books and computers to some rural schools have benefited local youngsters.
In addition, people discover that nature, their environment, is a valuable treasure that needs protection, and that it can also become a source of income for them.
Kyrgyzstan is an economically developing country.
Thanks to the enormous support of our guests, Ecotour has been able to provide
money and goods for useful humanitarian purposes
These contributions range from the distribution of clothes to the poorest of the poor, supply of schoolbooks and computers for the schools of Tuura-Suu and Kara-Talaa, reading books for the library of Temir Kanat, to the purchase of cattle for poor families.
Kyrgyzstan – an adventure waiting for you