The local residents of a Kyrgyzstan traditional village in Central Asia, placed high in the mountains which once had attracted a steady visitor flow, are finding out the ways to get accustomed to the reality of a world where the deadly pandemic has frozen out all tourism opportunities.
In Sary-Mogol in Kyrgyzstan, breeding yaks is one of the few traditional ways to sustain livelihood. Over 1,300 tourists passed through Sary-Mogol in 2019 to make the most amongst other attractions the village’s horse and yak games festival and fair. Last year, the number of drop off came to less than a dozen.
As per the UN Development Program, the tourism sector has been one of the key economic causalities of COVID-19 in Kyrgyzstan. Sary-Mogol villagers are accustomed to long and harsh winters, but in 2021 they are looking positively forward to the time when they can welcome tourists back.
