Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Insecure Roads Keep Tourists from Visiting Bamyan

Insecure Roads Keep  Tourists from Visiting Bamyan

BAMYAN CITY - The number of tourists visiting heritage sites in central Bamyan province has declined and may further decrease due to insecurity on highways, provincial information and culture affairs officials complained on Sunday.
Abdul Hameed Jalya, historic and cultural sites protection director at the provincial Information and Culture Department, told Pajhwok Afghan News that a large number of tourists would visit the province during summer vacations.
But due incidents of insecurity, including the kidnapping of nine people from Parwan’s Sheikhabad district and in MaidanWardak’sJalrez district, had discouraged tourists to visit Bamyan and their number had declined.
So far, 5,200 local and 210 foreign tourists had visited the province, registering a 10 percent decline compared to last year’s figures.
However, he said most of the visiting tourists took pleasure of the nature and clean air instead of visiting historic sites.
He added most of the tourists were from Kabul, Kandahar, Helmand, Ghazni and Daikundi provinces while due to insecurity in Ghorband, a small number of people from Bamyan visited the area.
Syed SikandarBalaghi, one of the National Park workers, said: “around 200 tents and 20 hotels were set up in the park to serve tourists but the services declined.”
Ahmad Hussain Ahmadpur, acting director of Information and Cultural Affairs Department, said promotion of tourism was their top priority but some external factors caused the industry to decline in Bamyan and the central government should cooperate in this regard.
He said security on highways and arrangement of air transport was government’s responsibility.(Pajhwok)