Bids to transform into Costa del Sol on the Caspian

Under late era of Saparmurat Niyazov, the self-styled Turkmenbashi or Father of the Turkmen who ran the world’s most repressive regimes, Turkmenistan was solely closed to foreigners. However his successor President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has passed decree which envisage that the country should become at tourist magnet, Turkmenistan.ru reported. The former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan is now endeavoring to create the world’s next tourist hotspot near a city named after its eccentric former dictator. Six hotels along a stretch of sandy beaches by the Caspian Sea are the first elements of a five billion Euro project to turn this secretive country into Central Asia’s Costa del Sol. Berdymukhamedov calls the proposed Avaza resort outside the city of Turkmenbashi a Klondike of tourist gold that will place Turkmenistan on the map as a rival to Spain, Turkey and Egypt. This project is considered more as a desert mirage than dream destination. Visitors arriving at Turkmenbashi’s rundown airport have to drive down uneven roads past the flares of the city’s large oil refinery to reach the white marble hotels set in a barren landscape. Giant portraits of Berdymukhamedov hang from every building and similar images adorn their luxurious interiors. Soldiers guard the entrance and beach at one hotel, the Watanchi, which is owned by the Defence Ministry. Sixty hotels, including one on a man-made island in the Caspian, are planned along a ten-mile stretch of coastline, as well as shopping malls, entertainment centres, a 10,000-seat sports stadium and an indoor skiing centre in a resort where temperatures can hit 50C in summer. Gaip Klichev, the Watanchi manager, pointing to stunning views beyond sandy white beaches, We will be no worse than Antalya the Turkish tourist city in a few years. We are sure that lots of people will want to come to Turkmenistan. A new international airport is being built and the regime pledges to simplify visas.