The United Nations Development Program in Kyrgyzstan, in collaboration with the Fair and Sustainable Development Solutions (FSDS) Foundation, is launching activities to strengthen the value added chain (VAC) of adventure tourism. The project “Aid for Trade in Central Asia” aims to develop adventure tourism in target regions of Kyrgyzstan, aimed at creating new jobs, increasing the competitiveness of the sector and strengthening its export potential. 

Tourism plays an important role in expanding economic opportunities and contributes to infrastructure development, which has a positive impact on other sectors of the economy. There are also opportunities to make the sector green and sustainable. Kyrgyzstan needs to be positioned as a new tourism destination as the country has a wide range of tourism resources. However, this requires coordinated efforts.

“We support the promotion of adventure tourism, which is one of the fastest growing sectors and has a great potential for developing local economy. Moreover, adventure tourism will allow as many people as possible to learn about the beautiful culture and nature of Kyrgyzstan. We hope that the project can become a driver for the development of adventure tourism in Kyrgyzstan and create new opportunities for sector participants,” said Aid for Trade project coordinator Aisulu Mambetkazieva.

The activities on strengthening the VAC of adventure tourism will be carried out in Issyk-Kul, Jalal-Abad and Osh provinces. The project includes several key tasks on which UNDP has already begun work: 

1. Increasing the potential of VAC participants and introducing adventure tourism products. New tourism products will be developed and promoted through various trading platforms. 

2. Increasing access to innovative and environmentally sustainable technologies that contribute to sustainable development. 

3. Creation of favorable conditions for the development of safe adventure tourism at the local level. 

UNDP in Kyrgyzstan pays great attention to supporting women's entrepreneurship and business initiatives of people with disabilities. In this regard, it is expected that appropriate activities will be carried out to create examples of tourism entrepreneurship among women and people with disabilities for further replication and scaling.

“The result of the project will include the creation of new jobs, increased efficiency and competitiveness of MSMEs, an increase in export volumes and incomes of tourism value chain participants, as well as the development of new tourism products and the introduction of green technologies within this field.” - said Zhanybek Pakyrov, FSDS project coordinator.

This initiative is implemented by the PF FSDS under UNDP's “Aid for Trade in Central Asia” project funded by the Government of Finland. 

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UNDP is implementing the V-phase of the regional project “Aid for Trade in Central Asia” (hereinafter referred to as the project), which is funded by the Government of Finland. The project aims to support the Central Asian countries (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) in achieving inclusive and sustainable growth by promoting green value chains and improving the competitiveness of the economies of the above countries. The project promotes more resilient, secure and gender-sensitive economic structures by diversifying the economy and adapting to new market and consumer trends. The project works at the macro (policy), meso (institutions) and micro (MSME) levels, which ensures an integrated approach and increases the level of project development impact. The two main project components include: 

• Supporting an enabling environment to enhance economic resilience and inclusive and sustainable growth (macro and meso levels); 
• Supporting job creation and improving the efficiency and competitiveness of value chains in green sectors (micro level). 

Two cross-cutting themes of the project are gender equality and environmental sustainability.