Postcard from Bishkek

It might seem surprising, but despite the events in Kyrgyzstan since April, there are still tourists visiting the country … not many, but the season is not “as dead as a doornail”.   Not yet, at least.

One tour operator says that he thinks that they are captives to plans which they made months ago, when everything was quiet and peaceful.  Either they have non-refundable tickets or they were on a trip along the Great Silk Road and so, basically, had to cross Kyrgyzstan in order to get from China to Uzbekistan, (or vice versa).  However I don’t agree:  I don’t think that a non-refundable ticket would stop me cancelling a trip if I thought that it was the most sensible option – and even if the airline wouldn’t refund the money for the ticket, I would hope that my travel insurance would cover the cost, and there are other ways to get between China and Uzbekistan, there are flights for example, or routes that go via Kazakhstan.   What’s more we are still getting enquiries and bookings from people who want to come to Kyrgyzstan, from countries as far afield as America, France, Switzerland, Indonesia and Brazil.

That’s raised a fine moral point with which I have had to wrestle during the week … should we accept the business?  Is it safe to bring them here?  Indeed, during the week I had two difficult conversations with tour operators, both of which concerned the question  whether or not to operate tours in Kyrgyzstan under the circumstances.

The first was with one of our partners who organize tours, like we do, throughout Central Asia.  He had decided to cancel all tours which involved travelling through the South of Kyrgyzstan, to the Ferghana Valley and those which involved crossing the border over the Irkeshtam Pass to or from China, or over the Kyzyl Art Pass to or from Tajikistan.  He was particularly worried about whether or not we should cancel all tours where the itinerary included Kyrgyzstan.  I said that I thought this wasn’t necessary.  At least, not yet.  Hopefully, it won’t be necessary.

Although the situation in the South was particularly bad, the situation in the rest of the country was still moderately quiet.  Things were tense … but quiet. The situation in the North of the country, (in particular in Bishkek, Issyk Kul and Naryn regions), was such that there was no reason, at the moment, to cancel tours, although we would, obviously, have to keep the situation under review and if it were to deteriorate in anyway throughout the rest of the country, then we would have to reconsider …  but at the moment, we were not doing so.

On the other hand, we had to recognize that clients might well be anxious in the light of the news that was emerging from out of the country and that they might well chose to cancel their tours, themselves.  As a company we were trying to keep clients informed of developments and answer any questions that they posed.  For example, we might write something like:

… you will probably have seen the recent news reports about the situation in Kyrgyzstan, in particular in the southern cities of Djalal Abad and Osh. At the moment the unrest is limited to these particular regions and the rest of the country is relatively quiet, although, (which is understandable), can sometimes seem a little tense. We would advise you to consider whatever Travel Advice your own Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued. At the moment, for example, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice against all travel to both Osh and Djalal Abad oblasts, (“provinces”), but have not advised any other restrictions in respect to travelling to Kyrgyzstan. You should also bear in mind that this reflects the situation “as is”, at the present time, now. The situation can change between now and the date of your trip, either for the worse, or for the better. Please bear in mind that we would not want to send tourists, (or, for that matter, our staff), into a dangerous situation and if we thought there was a significant risk of problems arising then we would cancel the trip, or offer an alternative if that seemed appropriate … but at the moment we do not feel this is a necessary step. We would, however,  understand completely if you decided that you wanted to change your plans or if you asked us to either amend the itinerary or to cancel the trip. Please let me know what you would like us to do.

It would depend on the particular circumstances, the time, the itinerary and how the situation develops, but at the moment,  although I wouldn’t want to “talk them into” continuing with the tour – neither, on the other hand, would I say “Don’t come”.

The second conversation was more surprising.  It took the form of a phone call from a tour operator who wanted to know our attitude about taking a group of tourists down to the Ferghana Valley at the present time.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what lay behind the question.  Was it, for example, a genuine question because there a group that was planning to cross over the Kyzyl Art pass from Tajikistan and then head out again straight away over the Irkeshtam Pass into China.  (If that was so, it would mean that they wouldn’t have to approach Osh … and so, possibly, someone thought it should still be possible to do this without having to cancel or rearrange the whole trip. Even so, however, the guides and drivers would probably have to come from Osh … and it is not clear what the situation would be in the remote rural districts down in that region.)

I can think of some other possible scenarios which might have led to the question … but as I don’t know for certain, any supposition would be just guesswork.

Anyway, I gave my response which was a little more polite than the first thought that went through my mind: “Are you crazy?” … or even the second: “No way, José”.

I was thanked for my comments, and then asked if I would mind writing it down as a summary, which made me think that it was probably intended, not for the operator themselves, but for a third party … who was asking for an opinion from someone “on the ground” … but, as I said, that’s a supposition on my part.

Anyway, this is what I wrote:

You have asked me about our current policy about sending people to the southern regions of the country, including the Ferghana Valley, (Osh and Djalal Abad), and the Irkeshtam and Kyzyl Art crossings to China and Tajikistan. As it happens, we have no groups booked for these regions in the nearest future.  If we had, however, we would have cancelled the arrangements and/or sought alternatives on the basis that, although the situation is apparently improving, it is still volatile and it is not clear if it is safe: There are still occasional, intermittent, incidents being reported; The authorities are still evacuating people from the region, not to mention the number of refugees seeking refuge either within other communities in Kyrgyzstan or across the border; The authorities are having trouble in arranging for the distribution of aid within the region; Some vehicles carrying aid to the South have stopped at Djalal Abad as the organizers and drivers have concerns about their safety on the remaining part of the journey; People arriving at Osh airport have been told that although they can travel into the city, their safety cannot be guaranteed, and many have been “stranded” at the airport; Some countries, (e.g. Great Britain), have travel warnings against travel to the region – this will almost certainly affect, (invalidate), the travel insurance taken out by tourists; It will be difficult to confirm arrangements given the current difficult communications with the South; Indeed, our “service providers” in the south are not, currently, able to provide services under the current circumstances; It will be even more difficult to communicate and monitor the situation with the groups whilst they are in the region; In the event of a problem arising, it will be difficult to extricate the tourists, (and staff),; either back to Bishkek, or onward into Uzbekistan, Tajikistan or China – e.g. the borders may be closed; Even if the region were deemed safe, there will be problems obtaining supplies in the south where resources and provisions are already severely restricted, and any which were purchased for the group would be detracting from that available for the support of the local population; It is difficult to balance our responsibilities in a situation like this: to the tourists themselves; our staff; our partners and service providers; the tourist industry in general and the country as a whole, but we consider that it is not in anyone’s interests to send tourists into a dangerous and unpredictable situation. Possible alternatives: for those travelling to/from Tajikistan, it basically means flying between Dushanbe from Bishkek and for those travelling to/from China, the options include flying between Urumqi and Bishkek or using the Torugart crossing … if they have the necessary visas, I suppose they could travel Kazakhstan. We will obviously keep the situation under review, and at some point will “open” the itineraries which incorporate locations in the south once the situation has “normalized”, but we consider that it would be unsafe, unprofessional and even irresponsible to send tourists there at the present time.

In both cases, I suppose that the question was really: “to go or not to go?” … and the different answers raise an interesting issue: when, and under what conditions, do we decide that it is “unsafe, unprofessional and irresponsible” to bring tourists to Kyrgyzstan at all?

Tags: Crisis_Management, Expat, Interesting_Times, Tourism