KABUL, Afghanistan — KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) —
Round 30 males are crammed right into a Kabul classroom, a part of the debut pupil cohort at a Taliban-run institute coaching tourism and hospitality professionals.
It’s a motley crew. One pupil is a mannequin. One other is 17 and has no job historical past.
The scholars fluctuate in age, training degree {and professional} expertise. They’re all males — Afghan ladies are banned from learning past sixth grade — and they do not know something about tourism or hospitality. However they’re all keen to advertise a unique facet of Afghanistan. And the Taliban are glad to assist.
Afghanistan’s rulers are pariahs on the worldwide stage, largely due to their restrictions on ladies and ladies. The economic system is struggling, infrastructure is poor, and poverty is rife.
And but, foreigners are visiting the nation, inspired by the sharp drop in violence, elevated flight connections with hubs like Dubai, and the bragging rights that include vacationing in an uncommon vacation spot. The numbers aren’t enormous — they by no means had been — however there’s a buzz round Afghan tourism.
In 2021, there have been 691 international vacationers. In 2022, that determine rose to 2,300. Final yr, there have been 7,000.
Mohammad Saeed, the pinnacle of the Tourism Directorate in Kabul, mentioned the most important international customer market is China due to its proximity and huge inhabitants. Afghanistan additionally has benefits over a few of its neighbors.
“They’ve advised me they don’t need to go to Pakistan as a result of it’s harmful they usually get attacked. The Japanese have mentioned this to me additionally,” Saeed mentioned. “That is good for us.”
However there are disadvantages, too.
Visas are troublesome and costly to entry. Many nations severed ties with Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to energy, and no nation acknowledges them because the reliable rulers of the nation.
Afghan embassies both closed or suspended their operations. There’s an ongoing energy wrestle between Afghanistan’s embassies and consulates staffed by individuals from the previous Western-backed administration, and people below the Taliban administration’s full management.
Saeed concedes there are obstacles for Afghan tourism to develop however mentioned he was working with ministries to beat them.
His final purpose is to have a visa on arrival for vacationers, however that could possibly be years away. There are issues with the street community, which is half-paved or non-existent in some elements of the nation, and airways largely keep away from Afghan airspace.
The capital Kabul has essentially the most worldwide flights, however no Afghan airport has direct routes with main vacationer markets like China, Europe, or India.
Regardless of the challenges, Saeed desires Afghanistan to turn into a tourism powerhouse, an ambition that seems to be backed by the Taliban’s prime leaders.
“I’ve been despatched to this division on the directions of the elders (ministers). They need to belief me as a result of they’ve despatched me to this necessary place.”
The scholars even have aspirations. The mannequin, Ahmed Massoud Talash, desires to study Afghanistan’s picturesque spots for Instagram posts and its historical past for media appearances.
Enterprise college graduate Samir Ahmadzai desires to open a lodge however thinks he ought to know extra about tourism and hospitality first.
“They hear that Afghanistan is backwards, poverty and all about battle,” mentioned Ahmadzai. “Now we have 5,000 years of historical past. There ought to be a brand new web page of Afghanistan.”
Lessons embrace Afghan handicrafts and anthropology fundamentals.
An unofficial topic is the way to work together with international ladies and the way their conduct or habits might conflict with native customs and edicts. Examples could be ladies smoking or consuming in public, to mixing freely with males who should not associated to them by blood or marriage.
The Taliban have imposed a costume code for ladies and necessities for them to have a male guardian, or mahram, after they journey. Eating alone, touring alone, and socializing with different ladies in public have turn into tougher. With gyms closed to ladies and sweetness salons banned, there are fewer locations the place they’ll meet outdoors the house.
In an indication that the nation is making ready for extra abroad guests, the nation’s solely five-star lodge, the Serena, has reopened its ladies’s spa and salon for international females after a monthslong closure.
Foreigners should present their passport to entry providers. Girls with “born in Afghanistan” on their ID are barred.
The restrictions on Afghan ladies and ladies weigh on abroad journey firms, who say they attempt to give attention to the constructive side of cultural interactions by making donations, supporting native initiatives or solely visiting family-run companies.
Shane Horan, the founding father of Rocky Highway Journey, mentioned visiting Afghanistan shouldn’t be seen as an endorsement of any explicit authorities or political regime.
“Finally, the objective ought to be to assist accountable tourism practices that contribute positively to the native economic system and foster mutual respect and understanding, whereas additionally remaining cognizant of the broader political context in Afghanistan.”
He mentioned there was no enter from authorities about what tour teams noticed or did, and that the corporate labored carefully with a ladies’s rights group in Afghanistan. A proportion of the tour price went into supporting this group’s packages, Horan added.
There are not any ladies on the Institute of Tourism & Lodge Administration. The scholars don’t point out it. However an official on the Tourism Directorate does.
“It’s a heartbreaking scenario,” mentioned the official, who wished to stay nameless for concern of reprisals. “Even feminine relations ask if they’ll research right here. However there was a change in coverage with the change in authorities. The ladies who had been learning earlier than (the takeover) by no means got here again. They by no means graduated.”