Carec Tourism Strategy 2030

The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Tourism Strategy 2030 sets out the long-term vision, objectives, programs, and targets to promote sustainable, safe, and inclusive tourism development in the region. The strategy also aims to enhance the region's attraction as a competitive tourism destination globally. It builds upon countries' efforts to develop their tourism sectors as well as existing initiatives being implemented by development partners. It adopts a holistic approach, covering five strategic pillars: connectivity and infrastructure, quality and standards, skills development, marketing and branding, and market intelligence. The strategy also mainstreams six cross-cutting themes: health, safety, and security; digitalization; gender equality; environmental sustainability; private sector participation; and universal access to tourism services.

It suggests this could be done through the identification of opportunities for enhancing and expanding cooperation among member countries in the tourism sector and by maximizing economic opportunities while safeguarding ecosystems. Promoting cooperation in the tourism sector is one of the operational priorities under the CAREC 2030 Strategy. Tourism is also recognized as an effective way of helping developing countries take part in the global economy and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Transport Strategy 2030 builds on progress made and lessons learned from the CAREC Transport and Trade Facilitation Strategy 2020. It separates trade facilitation from transport and links to the overall CAREC 2030 program in the areas of enhanced connectivity and sustainability. This strategy underscores increasing sustainability and network quality alongside continued construction and rehabilitation of transport corridors, and places more emphasis on multimodal connectivity, road asset management, road safety, and performance-based maintenance goals. The CAREC Transport Strategy 2030 will be implemented in conjunction with the CAREC Integrated Trade Agenda 2030.

The report's overarching conclusion is that CAREC has a unique and urgent opportunity to chart a course of proactive, systematic, and strategic engagement in supporting its member countries in reinforcing, modifying, and implementing existing national strategies on climate change mitigation and adaptation, and in developing a range of regional actions in response to the regional nature of many climate change impacts and solutions.

Digital transformation can positively impact economic growth, jobs creation, and social inclusion. As the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) region deals with the challenges posed by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, investing in national broadband infrastructure is more crucial than ever to enable connectivity and improve service delivery. Digitalization will allow CAREC member countries to develop robust solutions for areas including agriculture and water, e-commerce and trade, education and skills, energy, finance, health, transportation, and tourism. The CAREC Digital Strategy 2030 is intended as a catalyst for regional cooperation, promoting policy design, capacity building,and dialogue to address economic and social challenges in the region with the help of digital technologies.

The CAREC Gender Strategy 2030 provides a regional approach to improving gender mainstreaming and strengthening the equal access of men and women to economic opportunities in five operational clusters. The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) member countries face common challenges to improving gender equality and women's empowerment. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic also aggravated existing inequalities. This document complements national plans in line with the CAREC 2030 strategic framework's road map to gender mainstreaming in (i) economic and financial stability, (ii) trade, tourism, and economic corridors, (iii) infrastructure and economic connectivity, (iv) agriculture and water, and (v) human development.