Study on Visa Facilitation in the Silk Road Countries

Over the centuries, the Silk Road has been a vehicle for the exchange of cultures, ideas, crafts, beliefs, peoples and technologies between the East and the West, carrying conquerors, missionaries, traders, geographers and more recently, tourists. 1991 saw a reawakening of interest in the Silk Road with respect to cultural exchange, trade and tourism. The number of tourists who have been traveling on the Silk Road has been growing by leaps and bounds. In light of this UNWTO has taken the initiative to create a long-term tourism project in order to promote a special Silk Road tourism concept. The Silk Road Project, since its inception has identified a number of impediments militating against the growth of travel and tourism along the Silk Road. Among these obstacles, travel formalities which involve procedures such as visa processing and customs regulations stand out as the most notorious. Study on Visa Facilitation in the Silk Road Countries is an in-depth study to analyse visa procedures and other facilitation regulations in force in the countries involved in the Silk Road Project. It provides a set of recommendations on country by country basis to bridge the gap between visa procedures in Silk Road countries and those of other neighbouring countries which are considered to be more viable and of internationally acceptable standards.